Dec 19 2008
Proud of Schuerholz for ripping Furcal’s agency
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
ATLANTA — John Schuerholz is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore.
After watching the once-proud organization he helped build fall apart like never before in 2008, Schuerholz – who moved into the team president role last October as Frank Wren took over as general manager – came out Thursday and ripped Rafael Furcal’s agency after the shortstop’s representatives took the Braves’ term sheet Tuesday and ran straight to the Dodgers.
Using words like despicable and disgusting to describe how Furcal went from nearly signing with the Braves on Tuesday to re-upping with the Dodgers on Wednesday, Schuerholz didn’t hold back. He stated for the world to hear that the Braves no longer will do business with the Wasserman Media Group, which represents at least 60 major-league players (including current Atlanta reliever Peter Moylan).
Good for Schuerholz. It made me happy to see somebody stand up and take Furcal’s representatives to task for the under-handed double-crossing moves that have ignited a firestorm of anger amid Braves Nation.
It’s been a long, long offseason, following a long, long season. This latest move, however, was avoidable, classless, and just plain out and out wrong. You could sense the frustration in Schuerholz’s words; it summarizes the mood and feeling of the entire franchise and its beleaguered fan base.
By the way, you can scratch Randy Wolf’s name off the Braves’ list of pitching options. Wolf also is a client of Wasserman, and as Schuerholz said Thursday, that group might as well take the Braves’ phone number off their list.
I still can’t believe this thing fell through. But then again, I can’t believe a professional sports agency would take a term sheet and shop it around.
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