Take the Braves out of the running for these free agents

by gondeee on Nov 11, 2009 7:28 PM EST in Free Agents Comment 24 comments

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Was it Divine intervention that prevented the Atlanta Braves from signing Rafael Furcal... or just his agents.

Last off-season the Atlanta Braves announced they had come to terms with free agent Rafael Furcal on a three-year contract... but less than 24-hours later Furcal had signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the aftermath of that episode, Braves President John Schuerholtz stated that the Braves would never again do business with Furcal's agents, the Wasserman Group, headed by super-agent Arn Tellem.

As a side note to this, if we had signed Furcal, then we would have moved Kelly Johnson to left field, we never would have signed Garret Anderson, and Martin Prado may never have emerged as a bona fide major league starter at second base. And we might have traded Yunel Escobar somewhere. Things tend to work out for the best sometimes, as Furcal layed an egg in 2009.

Here are the free agents this off-season who are represented by the Wasserman Group, and are therefore off-limits to the Braves (courtesy of MLBTR):

Wilson Betemit
Aaron Boone
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Giambi
John Grabow
Rich Harden
Shawn Hill
Reed Johnson
Jason Kendall
Hideki Matsui
Jason Michaels
Guillermo Mota
Vicente Padilla
Wily Mo Pena
Joel Pineiro
Matt Treanor
Randy Wolf
Omar Vizquel

I must say that there's no one I really want on that list, so for this year at least, no harm, no foul.

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Comments

Oh dear. I don’t know how we’ll ever make it without them.

/sarcasm

by J-Freak on Nov 11, 2009 7:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

We can’t get Padilla. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

But in all seriousness our team lacks a real bonafied crazy.

by McCann and McWill on Nov 11, 2009 7:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Vanilla flavored Tootsie Rolls make me feel like i am going to barf

hohohhohohoh its the offseason, time to rosterbate in public places

by esadb on Nov 11, 2009 7:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Great list of blah players.

Some super agent. He’s got "great’ players there.

by taney71 on Nov 11, 2009 8:52 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

DFA McCann and sign Kendall.

Here are Pujols's stats: 1.000/1.000/4.000/5.000. That's right. He is batting a thousand, with a thousand OBP (naturally), and every hit has been a home run, and thus his OPS is a perfect 5.000.

by TradeAndruw on Nov 11, 2009 9:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

ha

Kendall did keep our postseason hopes alive for an extra 45 minutes or so.

"Are you tryin to say Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?"

by mvhsbball on Nov 11, 2009 9:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

YES. We'll have a leadoff hitter!

MATT DIAZ IS THE F**K*NG MAN.
They made me change my signature...

by nick9314 on Nov 11, 2009 9:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No Vinny Padilla???? DAMNIT!

"My team of nine guys who hit like Albert Pujols and never ever bunt just beat your team with one Shane Victorino 472 to 3."

by justincredubil02 on Nov 11, 2009 9:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’ve always thought Harden might flourish in a closers role and Grabow/Mota are mediocre bullpen pieces, but beyond that, it’s pretty much chaff.

by call_me_chipper on Nov 11, 2009 10:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I’d take Matt Treanor, just so we could post pics of Misty May after a win

Shouldn't Reid Gorecki get a shot in RF before that Heyward kid everybody talks about?

by Rhyno18 on Nov 11, 2009 10:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I was just about to say something about her.

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Nov 11, 2009 10:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Here are Pujols's stats: 1.000/1.000/4.000/5.000. That's right. He is batting a thousand, with a thousand OBP (naturally), and every hit has been a home run, and thus his OPS is a perfect 5.000.

by TradeAndruw on Nov 11, 2009 10:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs