Right now there's a risk in signing any baseball player, whether or not there's been a rumor about him or not. There's a dark cloud over the entire sport.

They (sponsors) want to buy while the property is cheap. Both sides have a risk. He's got a risk taking deals not lucrative enough if he does exceptionally well. If he doesn't do well, the brands have probably overpaid.

Advertisers are normally pretty risk averse anyway.

If a brand is going to use her right now, most people won't know who she is. It become ineffective spending. Even if you can get her cheap, there's not a lot of value.

Right now, he's a local guy. Right now, the marketing interest will be locally based. He needs to sustain a longer period of success with some team success to become a national figure,

foolishly play with the fires of rumor, only to risk being burned by its treacherous flames.