Furcal Chooses Dodgers

[redsfandan]

Furcal Chooses Dodgers
By Tim Dierkes [December 17 at 4:47 pm CST]

4:47pm: The latest from Rosenthal:

The Dodgers and Furcal were still hammering out an agreement Wednesday afternoon, sources said, but the Braves had been informed that Furcal would not accept their deal.

4:10pm: Ken Rosenthal says Furcal decided to sign with the Dodgers.

11:48am: Yahoo's Tim Brown: Furcal is "nearing an agreement with the Dodgers." Joel Sherman learned from Kinzer that the Dodgers are in the lead, having matched the Braves' three-year, $30MM (plus a fourth-year vesting option) offer. Paul Kinzer told Sherman the idea of switching to second base for the Braves gave Furcal pause.

Kinzer told Danny Knobler there was never a verbal agreement with the Braves. Kinzer lives in Atlanta and received 50 phone calls from fans after the story broke yesterday.

9:39am: Yesterday we watched as Rafael Furcal and his agents seemingly ignored a gentleman's agreement with the Braves to continue negotiating with the Dodgers. Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times learned from Ned Colletti that the Dodgers improved their offer to Furcal (the original was two years with a vesting option).

According to Buster Olney, the Braves offered three years, $30MM with a vesting option for the fourth year. Olney says the A's were at $38MM guaranteed over four years.

woops. I think we should wait to see something official before we know for sure who he ends up with. Bet the Braves are pissed if this is true and it probably means Escobar stays their shortstop.

[redsfandan]

5:53 pm: Rosenthal has updated his post with a bit more info and a timeline from Wren. Around midnight on Monday, after much negotiating, Kinzer told Wren, "we're good." Tuesday morning, says Rosenthal (note the slight discrepancy from Brown's report below), Wren "got a voicemail from Kinzer" asking for the term sheet to be put together and faxed to him, which Wren did. "Shortly thereafter, Kinzer began 'backpedaling,' saying he promised the Dodgers he would talk to them." And on Tuesday, the Dodgers "suddenly" appeared willing to grant Furcal a third year -- and today, the Braves were told that Furcal would not be joining them.

5:43pm: Tim Brown reports that the Braves had sent Furcal a signed term sheet, according to "a club source." Monday night, Kinzer asked for the paperwork to be faxed to him. Braves GM Frank Wren complied Tuesday morning. Writes Brown:

No member of the Braves’ front office – not Wren, not longtime former GM John Schuerholz – could recall a time when a signed term sheet was not the equivalent of a handshake agreement, ethically – if not legally – binding.

Brown adds that the Braves believe Kinzer shopped the term sheet to the Dodgers, who had been reluctant to commit to a third year.

Imo, Kinzer screwed up cuz now there will be one less team that will want to talk to him about the players he represents.