It seems a few days after nearly screwing up closer Frankie Rodriguez's deal with the Mets, Kinzer had entered into an agreement with the Braves on a three-year, $30 million contract with a fourth-year vesting option for shortstop Rafael Furcal. When Kinzer requested the Braves fax him a term sheet (the final step in negotiations), they assumed they had a deal. But the Braves charged that, instead of returning the term sheet signed, Kinzer took the offer back to the Los Angeles Dodgers and used it for leverage to get them to raise their offer to three years, $33 million with a fourth year option.

That may well have been the case, but it was Tellem who was negotiating Furcal's deal with the Dodgers - apparently at the same time Kinzer was negotiating with the Braves. Did one hand not know what the other was doing?