At the beginning of the pursuit of Peavy, the Braves were willing to trade Escobar under the premise they could go after Furcal to replace him at SS. Now Furcal isn’t signing with the Braves because he potentially would be playing 2B to keep Escobar at SS. I think at this point, the Braves have to swallow their pride and see what it would take to get the Peavy deal done. This is a pretty shameful offseason and it seems like agents are just using the Braves now to up the price of their clients. If you told me the Braves would be reduced to a bargaining chip 10 years ago, I’d have told you that you were crazy.

I can feel your pain.

I hope Furcal drops off the face of baseball, or we will see this chit happening with other players.

If sending a term sheet to a player truly is universal for “we have a deal,” it might very well hold up in court – even if he didn’t sign it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of grievance is filed if he ends up in LA. I remember reading about this thing in my law class – I think it’s called an implied contract.

I don’t claim to know about the legal liability of his negotiations, but I doubt that the dodgers would be held responsible. Even if we could hold rafael to the agreement, I wouldn’t want him if he wants to play elsewhere

to see Furcal take a pitch in the back if he is healthy when we play the Dodgers? I wouldn’t.

I’m tired of all the bull shit that comes with the off-season, the hot stove over-blows every conversation and all we do is get our hopes up for no reason

… that Furcal will get a hefty round of boos when LA comes to Atlanta? I think I might have to go there and do it myself.

From MLBTR:

Rosenthal has updated his post with a bit more info and a timeline from Wren. Around midnight on Monday, after much negotiating, Kinzer told Wren, “we’re good.” Tuesday morning, says Rosenthal (note the slight discrepancy from Brown’s report below), Wren “got a voicemail from Kinzer” asking for the term sheet to be put together and faxed to him, which Wren did. “Shortly thereafter, Kinzer began "backpedaling,” saying he promised the Dodgers he would talk to them." And on Tuesday, the Dodgers “suddenly” appeared willing to grant Furcal a third year.

That’s bush.

good riddance to the furcal move only would only have been worth while if their was a move involving johnson for pitching afterward, Ben Sheets in ’09!

Then watch Kinzer crawl back to the Braves and say that we had a “gentleman’s agreement” that we need to honor. Then we kick him to the curb. I can almost guarantee that next time his contract runs out, no one will negotiate with him unless he gets a new agent.

in all honesty, i’m glad we didn’t get him, because we don’t need him.

his agents are bush though. do they represent anyone else that we might have a vague interest in signing?

oh by the way.

LA’s offer was 3/33. ours was 3/30. theirs has an option for 13 mill on the 4th year that theres no chance they will accept. they’re also gonna be paying him 13 million in the third year, which is definitely LOLworthy. ned coletti strikes again.

I want him beaned in his first appearance and taken out on a hard slide to 2nd.

but a healthy booing might be in order. And I don’t know if there is anything to the legal question others have raised, but if there is, it should be explored to the extent that we might be monetarily compensated. I wouldn’t want a pissed off Furcal to be forced to play for us because of a legality. But if they had to pay us for treating us like jerks, then I’m for exploring that idea.

Is there anything else to say…?

Fire Bobby Cox and hire Dusty Baker!

How does the Dodger’s 1st round pick sound? I actually think that, if the contract sheet thing is as “golden” as neutral party exec said it was, then the Braves have a legitimate legal claim. I agree that Furcal being forced to play for the team would be bad (and it was kind-of a square peg/round hole move to begin with) but some monetary/competetive advantage compensation would suit me just fine.

Sign Dunn. Sign Lowe. No muss; no fuss.

Kinzer screwed the Braves the first time with Furcal by not coming back to the Braves and giving them a chance to negotiate. Via Sabernomics:

The Braves offered him $36 million over four years, and the Cubs offered nearly $50 million for five years. Schuerholz said agent Paul Kinzer told him he’d come back to see if the Braves had a final counterproposal, but didn’t.

I think he ended up screwing the Cubs too? I hear some Cubs fans signing he was really close to signing with the Cubs (as the above implied) and then went to the Dodges.