MLB
Rimas Sports, an agency launched last year by recording artist Bad Bunny, is facing significant punishment from the Major League Baseball Players Association, including at least one license revoked, multiple sources briefed on the matter told The Athletic.
The agency launched in partnership with Rimas Entertainment executive Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, who was tabbed as president. Rimas employed Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez as a sports ambassador and its client list includes the New York Mets’ Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio, the Cincinnati Reds’ Santiago Espinal, the Colorado Rockies’ Yonathan Daza, the San Francisco Giants’ Wilmer Flores, the Oakland Athletics’ Jordan Diaz and the Baltimore Orioles’ Livan Soto. The agency represents Diego Cartaya, a Los Angeles Dodgers top prospect.
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William Arroyo, one of Rimas Sports’ two certified agents, had his MLBPA license revoked, the sources said.
“At Rimas Sports, we uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity of our industry,” Rimas Sports said in a statement. “Out of respect for an ongoing process within the context of the MLBPA agent regulations, we will refrain from making any comments at this time. We remain committed to continue serving our clients with excellence.”
The exact reason for the discipline is unknown. Rimas has been the subject of multiple complaints from other agencies to the Players Association, which oversees agent certification for both the major and minor leagues, multiple sources briefed on the matter said. The Players Association declined comment.
Some of the complaints involved multiple employees, who were not certified agents but acting in that capacity, sources say. Multiple accounts from players and agents involve employees of Rimas offering large sums of money, cars and other incentives prohibited in MLBPA’s agent regulations to get players to switch agencies. Rimas is believed to have two certified agents — Arroyo and Michael Velasquez — sources say, and other employees who were seeking to obtain agent status are now expected to be denied. Players affected by the news were informed by the Players Association, sources say.
Bad Bunny is a multiple-time Grammy Award winner from Puerto Rico who is an avid baseball fan, dropping names of MLB players in his songs. He also played in the 2022 MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game.
In a statement announcing their launch, Assad said: “In the music world, we accomplished success by knowing how to develop talent, helping our clients reach their vision by catering to their unique needs. This new venture is an expansion of that mission as we aim to bring greater representation to the Latin community in the world of sports.”
(Photo: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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Brittany Ghiroli is a senior writer for The Athletic covering MLB. She spent two years on the Washington Nationals beat for The Athletic and, before that, a decade with MLB.com, including nine years on the Orioles beat and brief stints in Tampa Bay (’08) and New York (’09). She was Baltimore Magazine’s “Best Reporter” in 2014 and D.C. Sportswriter of the Year in 2019. She’s a proud Michigan State graduate. Follow Brittany on Twitter @Britt_Ghiroli