I'll keep this short. Frank Wren and the Braves have proven this offseason that we are no longer the Braves dynasty of old. No longer are we the team that free agents flock to, want to play for, hope to get offers from. Former Braves Rafael Furcal, on the verge of signing a contract with Atlanta, quickly changed his mind after the Dodgers said "Whoa whoa whoa hold on a second, let us get our offer in!" And boom, Furcal remains a Dodger. Now unless we were going to parlay his signing into trading a middle infielder to the Padres for Jake Peavy, I don't think we should have signed Furcal. I'm glad we didn't. I'm glad we didn't get Burnett for that matter. But still, these free agents have made it abundantly clear that despite getting the same or similar offers from Atlanta, it's more appealing to play someplace like New York or Los Angeles. So how does Frank Wren begin to rebuild this ball club when high-profile players who either have roots or friends in Atlanta choose not to play here? That's a good question.
UPDATE: While I'm still upset that the Braves aren't the appealing franchise they once were.. it appears as though Furcal's agent stabbed us in the back. He verbally agreed to a deal with the Braves, Dodgers got a hold of it, and he used our deal to leverage L.A. to getting Furcal a new offer. Guess he was going to land in Los Angeles all along. And Frank Wren is pissed. But oh well, funny how a couple days ago it was Oakland and Toronto who were the frontrunners.
2 comments. Leave Your Own!:
I just don't get this. What the hell happened? Did we sneeze on him or something to make him scared. I am just awfully confused. This has been such a disappointing off-season. I think Wren has got to go get peavy now. I mean WTF.
jeeez. wren was on 680 the fan this morning.. besides expressing his disappointment in how this furcal thing went down, he more or less said should the season start tomorrow, we would actually have a more competitive team than people think. WHAT. can we please just sit down and realize, look.. next season is a lost cause. do what you can to prepare for the future (2010, 2011), but before we do anything desperate (or do nothing at all).. lets at least be realistic about our situation. ugh.
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