In late July, Aroldis Chapman and Edwin Mejia appeared to be best friends together on a European vacation. Soon after Chapman's defection from the Cuban national team earlier that month in the Netherlands, he had paired up with Mejia -- an agent for Athletes Premier International -- and both had driven together to Barcelona, where Chapman would spend the next several weeks in a large house with a swimming pool in an affluent part of town. Mejia and Chapman spent their time there eating bountiful dinners and spending late nights in Barcelona bars or late nights at home playing video games. The days were spent training in a local baseball stadium and its weight room. In about a month, the lithe Chapman -- who rarely ate beef while living in Cuba, but in Spain was eating steak several nights a week -- had gained much-needed weight and appeared to be in excellent physical condition. Mejia was preparing Chapman for a tour of the United States where he would promote his client to major league teams in anticipation of a multi-million dollar contract -- somewhere around $50 million, Mejia had hoped. It was an unlikely pairing between a soon-to-be-superstar athlete and a relatively unknown agent. It was as if Mejia had pulled a winning lottery ticket from a handful of scratch tickets. And then, of course, it all went awry last week. For reasons yet to be explained, Chapman decided to fire Mejia and hire Rodney Fernandez, an agent who works for the Hendricks brothers -- who represent players such as Kendry Morales and Andy Pettitte, and formerly represented Roger Clemens. The move undoubtedly will have ramification for all parties. La Esquina breaks out its scoreboard to find out what it all means. FOR CHAPMAN: Immediately, Chapman goes from being an agency's most high-profile client, to being a good prospect in a stable of well-established All Stars. Without a doubt, Chapman will not garner stature he had been shown under Mejia. Fernandez said Chapman will begin to focus solely on baseball instead of holding interviews and making appearances. "He's training right now," Fernandez said. "He's preparing to fulfill his dream of pitching in the major leagues."Though Fernandez did not give a specific reason why Chapman left Mejia, he did suggest that perhaps the pitcher had become uncomfortable with the spotlight that Mejia and the Athletes Premier International agency had gotten for him. In the week prior to Chapman's agent switch, he held interviews with Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press and ESPN Deportes. Chapman's appearance at Yankee Stadium during the ALCS also recieved much attention. "Aroldis is a reserved kid," Fernandez said. "He's not a person who likes to speak much."A common perception is that Chapman's decision to dump Mejia may be a sign of immaturity, and may limit his market. But not everyone has bought into that theory. One executive of a team interested in Chapman countered, "I think Alan and Randy [Hendricks] understand the process. Their expectations will be big but rational. The $40-$50 million being floated by the other agent was silly. The way the player was being paraded about was also a negative. This guy is a prospect ... not a veteran major league player."Ultimately, what Chapman gains from this move won't be known until he signs a contract. Negotiations for Chapman are expected to begin heating up during winter meetings, the first week of December. FOR FERNANDEZ: Fernandez -- a defector from Havana, Cuba who pitched in the Florida Marlins organization in 2003 -- has shown a penchant for making friends with players. Soon after his career was cut short during the 2003 season because of injury, Fernandez began to train and work out with several players in the Miami area. "I think they liked how I trained," Fernandez said. Because of his close relationship with several players, Fernandez was hired in 2007 by a sports agency headed by Mitch Frankel and Bill Rego to be a liaison for the group's Latin American clients. He was paid $1,000 to start, according to one source close to the situation, but quickly rose in status in the company. "He proved to be a really good recruiter," said the source. Soon, with Fernandez's help, the Rego/Frankel agency was representing players such as Jose Valverde, Yunel Escobar and Jhonny Peralta. The Frankel/Rego agency disbanded last year after Rego was decertified by the Players Association for reasons they did not disclose, which essentially made Fernandez a free agent. Soon after that, Fernandez received a call from Randy and Alan Hendricks. "They told me they wanted to start a Latin American division," Fernandez said. "I thought it was a great idea."In a matter of months, Fernandez helped expand the Hendricks brothers' Latin American clientele. First, he lured Morales, who recently finished fifth in the AL MVP voting. Chapman's addition only increases Fernandez's profile. Only two years after he was essentially hired as a personal assistant for Latin American players, Fernandez now represents 10 players who are on a team's 40-man roster and is a rising star in the agent business. "The success we've had with Latin American players comes because we emphasize hard work and I think people notice that," Fernandez said. FOR MEJIA: Chapman's defection was a stunning blow for Mejia's fledgling API agency. Without Chapman, API does not represent a player expected to be a on a team's 40-man roster next year. Mejia had only gotten MLBPA certification because he represented Chapman. At the very least, it appears Mejia may have grounds to file a grievance with the Players Association, though several agents said he would be unlikely to win such a grievance since the MLBPA is unlikely to rule against an established agency group like the Hendricks brothers. Mejia may then look to the U.S. legal system for assistance. "Mejia might have grounds for a tortious interference lawsuit," said one agent with several Latin American clients. "Agents generally aren't big on suing players or other agents since MLB is so small and even a court win could be a Pyrrhic victory -- i.e., an agent might win some money, but scare off other possible clients in the process. But let's face it: There's an above-average chance Mejia won't ever represent a player of Chapman's caliber again -- most agents only do so once. So it would at least cross my mind if I was Mejia (who is also a lawyer). I've heard such cases are hard to win, and Chapman/Hendricks could argue that Mejia was working too slowly... but it at least seems like an option."Ultimately, Mejia may decide to simply try to recoup his expenses for housing Chapman in Spain and then Andorra, where Chapman established residency, a necessary part of the free agency process. Mejia also likely incurred expenses during Chapman's visit to the United States and also for any legal work that was done in regards to his free agency.

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