Tommy Tanzer
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Tommy Tanzer is an American baseball agent, known for representing pitching prospect Matt Harrington. He has also represented Major League Baseball players such as Steve Finley, John Burkett, Sterling Hitchcock, Paul Abbott, Jason Johnson, Chone Figgins, José Molina, Charlie Hayes, Dante Bichette and Shane Reynolds.
[edit] Matt Harrington
Tanzer was the agent for star high school pitcher Matt Harrington, who was drafted with the seventh overall selection in the 2000 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies. This was Tanzer's first time representing a draft pick.
Harrington and Tanzer were never able to come to terms on a contract with the Rockies. Tanzer asked for a $4.95 million signing bonus, which was 25 percent more than what the previous year's No. 1 pick Josh Hamilton had received. The negotiations proved acrimonious, with Tanzer accusing the Rockies of backing out of an alleged pre-draft agreement to sign for his stated asking price, and the Rockies denying that such an agreement ever took place.
As Tanzer and the Rockies fought, Harrington was sitting idle for almost a year. He opted not to sign with the Rockies and re-enter the draft a year later. By then, the Harringtons, who publicly supported their agent the year before, fired him and eventually sued him for offering bad advice.[1]
