Green Praises the New Arizona Boss

Shawn Green isn’t sure how much longer he’ll get the chance to play for the Dodgers, but he tipped his cap Friday to a man who helped make his Dodger career possible.

Jeff Moorad, the agent who brokered the 1999 trade that brought him home from Canada, will no longer represent Green -- or anyone else -- after the Arizona Diamondbacks introduced him Friday as their new chief executive officer.

After the 1999 season, Green wanted to play for the Dodgers and Raul Mondesi wanted to play for any team but the Dodgers. Moorad, who represented both players, brokered a trade in which the Toronto Blue Jays acquired the disgruntled Mondesi to replace Green in right field.

Green could have left the Blue Jays as a free agent after another season, and Moorad persuaded the Jays to pick up the two option years in Mondesi’s contract, for $24 million. Then, on behalf of Green, Moorad negotiated a six-year, $84-million contract with then-Dodger chairman Bob Daly and then-general manager Kevin Malone. The contract included salaries of $16 million for 2004 and 2005, the largest single-season salaries in baseball history at the time of the deal.

“I owe a lot to Jeff and his firm, for what they were able to do for me,” said Green, who grew up in Orange County, “getting me traded to L.A. and working out the contract they worked out. I definitely made the right choice in agents.”

Green said he would remain with the agents who worked with Moorad, including Brian Peters, Scott Parker and Greg Genske.

Moorad’s departure comes at an uneasy time for Green. He gains no-trade rights at season’s end, when he will have completed five years with the Dodgers and 10 years in the majors.

But that doesn’t mean new General Manager Paul DePodesta won’t consider asking him to approve a trade during the winter, and in any case, Green’s Dodger future after his contract expires next fall is uncertain.

Green set a franchise record by hitting 49 home runs in 2001. He entered play Friday hitting .263 with 14 homers.

“I’m definitely not worried,” Green said. “As a player, change is part of the game -- change in ownership, change in management, change in agents. I’d like to stay in L.A., but right now that’s the furthest thing from my mind.”