Rafael Furcal and Arn Tellem are way beyond personas non grata in the Atlanta clubhouse at this point; it seems too, that most of the insiders and outsiders following the baseball world tend to at least agree with Frank Wren with regard to how that deal didn't go down.Which may explain why, after finalizing a deal with the Dodgers last week, Furcal has come out to say his
"We never gave the nod to the Braves," he said Sunday after arriving to play winter ball for the Aguilas of Cibaenas.Hearing Furcal deny the deal is no surprise -- he's technically telling the truth I suppose, and it's not as if he would actually point out that he screwed them over even if he did. What seems far more interesting, to me, is part of the statement that Tellem released:
"That is not true," Furcal said. "We never, not my agents nor me, agreed to anything with the Braves."
4. Furcal ultimately decided to accept the Dodgers' offer, taking into consideration a number of factors the most important of which was his desire to continue playing short-stop and not make the position change to second base that the Braves were requiring.Now, this little nugget comes amidst a bunch of legalese styled yada-yada that includes Tellem stating that the Braves "must entertain" opportunities from their clients "in accordance with the rules of Major League Baseball."
