Furcal Denies Allegations He Reached Agreement To Join Braves
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Furcal, WMG Agents Deny Ever Agreeing
To Deal With Braves |
Rafael Furcal "denied the Braves' charge that he ever agreed to play for them" following allegations the shortstop reached a deal to re-sign with the Dodgers after earlier agreeing to a deal with the Braves, according to Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. TIMES. Furcal: "I don't know what happened." Furcal said that his "preference was always to re-sign with the Dodgers." But Braves GM Frank Wren said that Wasserman Media Group's (WMG) Paul Kinzer "told him [last Monday] night that he wanted to run the Braves' final offer by Furcal." Wren also claimed that Kinzer "left him a voice message later that night and asked him to fax over a term sheet, which Wren said is customarily done only when an agreement has been reached." Kinzer Tuesday said that he "told Furcal to 'sleep on' the offer." Furcal: "I never said anything." WMG agent Arn Tellem in a statement wrote that an agreement "was never reached and denied any wrongdoing, as Kinzer did on Tuesday" (L.A. TIMES, 12/20). Kinzer said that he "never agreed to a deal," and added that he and Furcal were "'close' to agreeing to a new contract with the Braves on Monday night but decided to sleep on it." Kinzer: "They know we did not even [have] a verbal agreement. ... Fifty Braves fans were calling me all excited, and I had to say the deal wasn't done. I don't think it was the team that leaked it" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/21).
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Schuerholz Says Braves Will
No Longer Sign WMG Clients |
DEAL BREAKER: MLB.com's Fred Claire wrote the reaction of Braves President John Schuerholz, who said the club will no longer entertain signing players represented by WMG, was the "strongest that I can recall as far as leveling a blast at an agency and its representatives." Claire noted the situation "reminded me of an incident nearly 20 years ago" involving former MLBer Mark Langston, and it "just so happens that Tellem was involved." All of this "goes down as a sad chapter in this year's period of free-agent negotiations," and it "takes on an even darker note considering the fact that the country is struggling from an economic standpoint" (MLB.com, 12/20). In N.Y, Bill Madden wrote Schuerholz "never has had an especially high regard for agents, but this past week was the first time we ever heard him go so far as to call one of them 'despicable.'" Meanwhile, Kinzer has "not had a good winter." Tellem was "negotiating Furcal's deal with the Dodgers -- apparently at the same time Kinzer was negotiating with the Braves." Madden: "Did one hand not know what the other was doing?" Kinzer also did WMG "no favors when, in beginning talks with teams about" P Francisco Rodriguez, he "conceded publicly there was no market for closers this year and then was ready to accept the Mets' first offer" of three years, $34M. Sources said that Tellem "had to get involved and was able to get" Mets ownership to "throw another $3[M] of 'face-saving money' into the deal" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/21).
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