Now Furcal Close to Signing With Dodgers

[inari]

According to the SportsCenter bottomline. Something always intrigues me about players returning to their old team.

[17 Seconds]

weird move. what about yunel?/

[XZero771679666304]

weird move. what about yunel?/

 

Might they trade Kelly Johnson?

[apete6]

Now they can get Peavy from the Padres for Escobar and whoever else. They have the money because they couldn't sign Burnett. NL East is going to be good next year.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I could see the Braves revisiting the Peavy deal. They failed to land the SP they wanted and the market will be thinning even more. They can now more freely deal Escobar, so it's going to be interesting to see if things with the Padres heat up again.

[UMFan83]

I wasn't following this too closely, were the Braves even rumored to be in the talks? Or were they the mystery team?

[YearofDaCubs]

Disappointment to say the least but I probably figured Furcal burned his bridges with the Cubs 3 years ago.

[Tracer Bullet]

Is there anyway we can end up with Escobar?

[Sever82]

I'm really interested to see what they do with Escobar, i mean they can always just move furcal to 2nd but who knows. As for the Braves landing Peavy, i doubt it because supposedly if the rumors are true, Peavy doesn't want to be a Brave. What would it take to pry Escobar from the braves, obviously they need pitching.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I wasn't following this too closely, were the Braves even rumored to be in the talks? Or were they the mystery team?

 

This is pure speculation on my part, but I guess they jumped in this when they lost on Burnett. They ended up with money to spend and probably thought Furcal was a decent option to spend it on.

[Sever82]

If you check out Rosenthal's post he confirmed that the mystery team was the braves. I dont think the braves jumped in just because they lost burnett, it wouldn't make sense for them to go from needing a pitcher to signing furcal while there is still some pitchers on the market. I know some analyst would guess to say that the braves might revisit peavy talks but if the rumors are true, peavy doesnt want to be a brave and i think Towers was even quoted in saying that he was doubting that peavy would even accept a trade to ATL. I'm still curious what kind of package the braves would want for escobar if the cubs asked. I'd imagine they'd ask for Marshall.

[Cubswin11]

Apparently they are going to move Kelly Johnson to LF and Furcal is going to play 2B. If Chipper stays healthy and Francouer returns to form and they get some production from a young player or two they could have a real good offense. Their starting rotation is pretty bad though and I don't see how they finish above 3rd if this is the last move they make.

[Post Count Padder]

Apparently they are going to move Kelly Johnson to LF and Furcal is going to play 2B. If Chipper stays healthy and Francouer returns to form and they get some production from a young player or two they could have a real good offense. Their starting rotation is pretty bad though and I don't see how they finish above 3rd if this is the last move they make.

Beat me to it. Here's from MLBTR:

 

10:51am: MLB.com's Mark Bowman says the Braves have no intention of trading Johnson or Escobar - they are moving Johnson back to left field. Bowman believes Furcal will play second base.

[MixmastaMiguel]

Apparently they are going to move Kelly Johnson to LF and Furcal is going to play 2B. If Chipper stays healthy and Francouer returns to form and they get some production from a young player or two they could have a real good offense. Their starting rotation is pretty bad though and I don't see how they finish above 3rd if this is the last move they make.

 

ESPN says that Furcal would play short and Yunel move to 2nd. That makes more sense to me. Furcal is pretty good at short, and has the best arm in the MLB, why would they sign him and move him? I still think they trade Yunel though. Peavy will be a Brave.

[indycub]

Not so fast guys. Breaking news on ESPN just said that Furcal to the Braves is not a done deal, and the Dodgers are back in the running to re-sign him.

[17 Seconds]

now espn is saying the dodgers are making a hard push

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3772806

 

this seems familiar

 

this quote-

 

"It's not done until we sign off and there's a physical exam, and we haven't gotten that far. Until a letter of agreement is signed, we don't even start the process to get him to Atlanta for a physical.''

 

makes it sound like furcal and his agent had a verbal agreement with the braves and backed out. good times

[17 Seconds]

The Braves think they have a deal in principle for the free-agent shortstop. "A gentleman's agreement,'' is what one Braves person said. It's believed to be for $30 million over three years.

 

However, Furcal was said to be still talking to the Dodgers Tuesday evening, hours after the Braves suggested a deal was done with them. The Dodgers are believed to be interested in re-signing Furcal to a two-year deal with an option.

 

[cubswin2009]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Aps7ljy3afHFSKSaEhb9xko5nYcB?slug=ti-furcaldodgers121708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

At the end of a couple of curious days, during which Rafael Furcal reportedly agreed to sign with the Atlanta Braves, then resumed negotiations with the Los Angeles Dodgers (depending on one’s perspective), the free-agent shortstop was nearing an agreement Wednesday morning to return to the Dodgers.

 

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, talks between team owner Frank McCourt, general manager Ned Colletti and agent Arn Tellem progressed to the point both sides believed a deal would be struck.

 

The Dodgers’ offer had been at two years with an option for a third. They improved their original offer in the last 24 hours, according to a source, though it is unknown if they guaranteed the third year or increased the contract’s average annual value.

 

In Atlanta, Braves officials who were so optimistic they had acquired Furcal (who began his career in Atlanta) on Tuesday for three years and $30 million were resigned to perhaps losing the bidding to the Dodgers on Wednesday. They could, of course, re-enter negotiations with a counter offer.

[haubrich91]

Poor Braves.

 

Wonder if this will take the Dodgers out of the Manny sweepstakes.

[sneakypower]

Kinzer is a scumbag

[17 Seconds]

Supposedly they had a verbal or "gentlemen's" agreement with the Braves but Furcal and Kinzer backed out. nice

[Little Slide Rooter]

Supposedly they had a verbal or "gentlemen's" agreement with the Braves but Furcal and Kinzer backed out. nice

 

Deja...wait for it...Vu

[17 Seconds]

I don't really think Furcal backed out of anything with the Cubs though. I think they just weren't willing to match LA. It just kind of sucked that LA swopped in at the last second

[Post Count Padder]

Ha

 

It's even better for making ESPN look stupid for reporting it was a done deal two days ago.

[The Other 15]

Supposedly they had a verbal or "gentlemen's" agreement with the Braves but Furcal and Kinzer backed out. nice

Wow, that's shocking. Kinzers "gentlemen's" agreement was so honorable with Hendry 3 years ago. Furcal is a nice player but his production (defense/running/and decent bat) was not on par with the top producers in baseball which is what he was being paid.

 

Now, 3 years later, he has a back injury on his resume and is a bigger risk than the last time. Call it bad luck, or karma, or whatever, but the Dodgers didn't reap the benefits of his last contract so maybe they think a take two is necessary. Good for them.

 

The best part of this - if owners all agreed that dealing with the Kinzers/Boras's was a bad idea, it would be considered illegal.