I think you're being a tad bit melodramatic there.  Either that, or only reading the headline of the article.

The only newsworthy item regarding Furcal in that article is a quote from his agent.  In regards to the arbitration/draft pick issue,  Paul Kinzer said, "I don't think that's going to stand in the way of the Cubs at all."  
--Well, duh...

The rest of the article (as it pertains to Furcal's demand for a 5 year contract) is simply conjecture by a sportswriter...and we know what that's sometimes worth.  Sullivan opines that the Cubs are unwilling to, "...offer Furcal more than four years, having re-signed Aramis Ramirez last April to a four-year, $42 million deal that includes an option year. Derrek Lee, whose contract ends in '06, may be the only player the Cubs would risk a five-year deal on."  
--This may well be true...but who knows?  The last time I checked, Paul Sullivan didn't make up even part of the decision making group at the helm of the Cubs.  

Sullivan then rehashes the old assumption that, "many teams will try to fill holes through the old-fashioned route of making a trade, rather than getting into bidding wars over free agents who wouldn't be fought over in a normal marketplace."  He even includes a quote from Jim: "It seems to be a climate where teams are more interested in trading [to improve themselves]," Hendry said.  
--Again, we already knew this.  

To me, this doesn't indicate any "purse-string tightening", just idle conjecture by Paul Sullivan....which, if you think about it, isn't much different from what we do here.    

Go here. This is all just part of the public posturing that is a part of free agent contract negotiations these days. The article you sent out was probably done, at least in part, to counter this article that went up on ESPN.com on Saturday. So over the weekend, Furcal's agent said "$50 million or we go back to Atlanta," Hendry said "OK, walk," and the Furcal camp replied "ok, we'll be reasonable."

Furcal's coming here, just be patient.