MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

And I keep wondering why, if he wanted to stay so bad, why he didn't tell his agent "Fuck you, I'm staying with the Braves." It's all Monopoly money anyway at this level.

 

I would guess that once people get up into Monopoly money, they don't think of it as Monopoly money. If they did, there wouldn't be haggling over $35 million and $36 million.

 

Close is not a scrub agent. The Braves made the move for Matt Olson which ended the negotiations. Honestly, I don't know how this thing got screwed up.

 

Nats finally get serious:

 

Yordan Alvarez is sitting out today's game, but the report I read is that he is still being evaluated for a concussion. Seems odd that they haven't made a determination yet.

 

Looks like Close is not the bad guy here, but as you say a reputable agent.

Agent: 'False narrative' around Freeman deal

Looks to me like either:

the Braves are whispering sweet nothings to Freeman just to tempt him; or

Freeman is trying to rewrite history and make himself look like something other than the money-grubbing player he is (well I would be too.)
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Either way, Close just needs to pick better clients, not ones that will throw him under the bus.

 

This is endlessly fascinating. The first instinct is to say Freddie should have pulled a Chipper, who never got quote unquote fair market value with the Braves (though his agent seems less shark-ish than the Closes and Boraseses of the world). And didn't Greg Maddux take less from the Braves than the Yankees? In the end, it's easy to say this should have been his call. But would Alex Anthopoulos have been allowed to pick up the phone? The Braves' mysterious absentee ownership seems to give no fucks about sentiment or anything other than making as much money as possible. Most owners at least feign interest in the former. It's quite possible ownership had a figure in mind and Freddie's reasonable request was too high for them...or that they just didn't want him back at all. That makes no sense, but since when do billionaire assholes make sense?

 

The Mets are amazing.

 

The potential graft in the Oakland ballpark project is staggering.