and i can see a scenario like this (my own speculation)

agents and braves work out a deal
furcal indicates interest, but needs time
to save time, agents perhaps ask braves to work out a term sheet … but note that furcal still needs time
braves assume the former to mean a deal was done, whereas the agents were perhaps just doing their due dilligence

maybe somewhere in there, furcal goes to his agents and says, i don’t want to be in atlanta.

I don’t know, just speculation. What I’m trying to get at, though, is that there is usually two sides to a story. for all the indignation the braves can attempt to show, i find it hard to believe that it was solely wmg’s fault, considering that one major piece of this story has always been consistent which is that furcal needed time.

they entered the offseason knowing that, which is why they went after peavy and burnett and both times were left at the altar, for various reasons, depending on who you believe. that said, this was the first offseason they had money, and they were close enough to their recent history that some players might have interest. the significance in this offseason wasn’t, imo, in building for 2009 – it was for them to build towards 2010. players, at the end of the day, still want to play for winners. the further away the braves get (say, another poor year in 2009), the harder it will be to net fa’s. the reality is, the ability to build a core, and that’s the keyword, internally is the exception and not the rule. most teams need to go outside. for every tampa bay (and even the rays built it from moves as well, kazmir/garza in the rotation, their pen, bartlett/pena/iwamura/navarro were external), well the rays took 10 years.

not saying it’s impossible to rebuild internally, and the braves have one of the best systems in the game, even after making that texeira deal that helped stock the rangers system. That said, their credibility is at a tenuous edge right now. i don’t know how they save the rest of their offseason to protect 2010, considering they don’t like to deal with boras either. maybe their lucky and are one of the rare occasions where their youngsters develop. the loss of furcal from the market diminishes the chance of the braves sucking it up and going back to the padres on peavy (they should’ve done that anyways, i still can’t believe jeff locke and a ntc were essentially the difference in a deal when the stake of the franchise’s near future was at hand). i think their best move right now, assuming they won’t deal with boras on lowe, is to go after kawakami and sheets, try to get smoltz/glavine back as veteran support, and maybe send out some nets on smaller trades involving guys like jo-jo reyes and charlie morton. not sure they are all that into pat the bat.

can’t say a plus 1 here, as kinzer and company looked like they at least crossed some sort of honorary line, but i think there’s something here. There’s a reason Wren was run out of his last GM job … he’s just not that good. say what you want about towers, braunecker, and kinzer, but the one constant on all three issues has been that wren has been involved. after seeing his act in baltimore, i’m just not sold wren is a good gm. I don’t think, unless a court case happens, we’ll know everything that happens, but it certainly feels like either he was a sucker that kept waiting at the door (or in this case, the fax machine) or he’s just not that good. i feel for the braves, always was a little partial to them due to tbs. this was a huge offseason for them, the chance to finally make some positive action and build for 2010 and beyond, and so far, it’s been a big fat zero for 3.

And I hope the rest of the sharks smell the blood in the water and start picking off Tellem/Kinzer’s clients one by one by one.

Would be overjoyed if a player the Cubs coveted backed out of another team’s deal to sign with the Cubs.

Boras has:

J.D. Drew; Varitek; Dice-K; Manny; Texeira; Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon.

He’s done business with them for years. Sometimes he gets them — he screwed them over Damon and sometimes they get him — They called Dice-K’s bluff.

You don’t see them going all trippy over it.

Could be why they’ve won two titles in four years and the Braves are the Buffalo Bills of baseball.

By now, if you don’t get why people would back the Braves position on this you probably never will. The day “real businessmen” can’t sit across a table and rely on a gentleman’s agreement is the day that scummy lawyers (exhibit A: Tellem/Kinzer) rise up and rule the earth.

Too funny, and all too true.

ever believed it was about the money. 4/40 to play up the road in Oakland would have been the biggest number.
I think its the fact that someone felt there was a verbal agreement, and someone was wrong in what was done.
However, since none of us were actually in the middle of negotiations, we can only speculate as to who is right in this.
We have also been trained to see agents in the same light as Boras, which is also not always true.
I think in this case its going to be all about perception, unless some irrefutable evidence comes about that proves / disproves any and all of the claims by both parties.

$33/3 > $40/4, and that’s without the Dodgers’ 2012 option of $13MM.

Players are greedy and evil and agents are greedier and eviller!

They should just trust these benevolent masters to do the right thing all the time! They should just all sign blank contracts!

This doesn’t fit the narrative!!!!

but it wasn’t Boras