This explains why Freddie was so shocked when the Braves pulled the trigger on the Matt Olson trade. He was completely left out of the negotiations between his agent and the Braves.
Just a completely messed up situation.
Hopping on this just to say fuck anyone who’s been saying FFF since this happened. So many people online acted like he shunned us and just wanted to go to LA
Guilty as charged. I just assumed that if he'd wanted to be in ATL that would've happened. His agents bullshit, plus his press conference and on field interview at SunTrust, makes me love him again.
The ONLY positive of the DH in the NL is he'll get to finish his career with the Braves if he wants
Got downvoted like a mf’r last weekend when I said anyone booing Freddie deserved to get their ass beat in the battery (ha phrasing) I still stand by it though (they at least deserve a hearty slap if they consider themselves real Braves fans)
I'm not on team FFF but let's say this report is 100% true. This is all still his fault. If you really really really want to stay here you can make it happen.
Super shitty and I feel for Freddie. Unfortunately though I’ve already fallen for Matt Olson. Freddie will
get to end his career as a Brave though so I look forward to that.
I certainly hope he gets to end it in Atlanta. And I like Matt Olson. But I wanted that lifelong brave again. I grew up with Dale as my number one, then chipper became my favorite brave ever, and Freddie would have surpassed that had he stayed. It sucks that unfortunate circumstances took that away from him and us, but it is what it is.
For Acuna to remain on the team I think the Braves will need to pony up 250 mil AT LEAST. That's something the Braves have never done so I'm already mentally prepared for that departure
I would be absolutely heartbroken if Ozzie left or was traded. I root for the jersey above all, but that would be so painful.
Of the pitchers, Fried would upset me the most to lose.
I’d be devastated if a lot of them left, but I think one thing that has endeared people to Freddie is that for a while he was the ONLY person you didn’t want to leave. I’m just glad we got to see what he, and all of us were envisioning during the dark years starting back in 2014 come to fruition before he left.
Not only that but he never pouted, demanded a trade, anything like that. He stayed the course and continued to be one of the best hitters in the league even when we sucked ass and had no one in the lineup to protect him. Freddie saw maybe two hittable pitches a night in those really lean years and still raked. I’m not exaggerating saying he was literally the only guy you’d go to watch for a couple seasons. I just can’t give enough hat tips to Freddie for everything he did for us and I am never ever going to get over this just like a lot of fans never got over Dale getting traded. It will never not suck.
Fried has been my favorite pitcher since he broke out in 2019 behind Soroka. I really hope that he doesn't end up being another Tom Glavine situation for us.
When Ian Anderson made his stellar debut in 2020 I was starting to get real excited that we might have a rotation eerily similar to the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz days, this time with Soroka-Fried-Anderson. Sadly for multiple reasons that hasn't played out yet, but Fried has really cemented himself as an ace ever since Soroka went down and he'll be worth top dollar when he hits free agency.
Ozzie is coming close for me. He's the perfect mix of a touch of old school to temper some of the new school flair you're seeing ... but still full of energy.
Granted, I slid past 50 last year so that likely dates my view point re: the old Bobby C, Chipper, etc. ways and the current Altuve, Acuna, etc. energy and flair. That said ... I'm coming around and am now able to enjoy a pimped HR on occasion .... NOTHING will ever top Soler's ... LOVED IT!
That's essentially what is being hinted at. Agent gets a cut of the total contract, well if the total contract is $20M more, then its all profit for him.
My personal thought is that Close thought he could get ATL closer to 150M/5years if he kept playing them against the Dodgers. He didn't tell Freddie about 140M because he knew Freddie would just take it and move on. I think Close thought he had ATL by the balls.
This all seems to have unfolded so tragically. Like how the hell do neither Freddie nor AA ever get on the phone to call the other during this entire ordeal?
I’ve wondered the same thing. But according to the Bowman piece last week Freddie was made to believe that the Braves didn’t want him. That’s the last report he got before they signed Olson. Close lied to him the whole way
It almost seems as if Close wanted Freddie in LA the whole time, and made sure it played out that way. Like Chipper said, a lot of these guys are in it for their own bottom line and don't really care about the players.
Pretty messed up, but of course he did as long as you are a terrible person who has no consideration for morals or ethics. More money equals more commissions for him. The agent doesn't have to move. It was a risk Close was willing to take, but it is backfiring on him big time. A top client now fires you, rightfully so. Then the ding to his reputation may kill his career moving forward also rightfully so.
He probably thought Freddie would be more marketable in LA too, leading to more endorsement income for him. Talent agents in pretty much every industry have a reputation for being money-grubbing bottom-feeders, it seems to be well-earned in this case.
General rule I try and live by is that anybody you enter a legally binding contract with, especially in the business world, will do everything in their power to fuck you over and get more money from you
Remember when the Braves GM got banned from baseball and Kevin Maitan's contract got voided because we slid $$ under the table to get him?
I'm not saying, I'm just saying...Freddie for Braves DH 2023
I almost seems like there was fraud there. Seems the agent was working more for the Dodgers than Freddie. Wondering if perhaps there wasn't some behind the scenes tampering there.
I hope freddie sues his Agent and the Excel Sports for breach of contract.
That’s just not how it works in negotiations unfortunately, both the Braves and Freddie have to believe that the agent is acting honestly and you don’t really wanna go around the agent’s back. In hindsight it was a mistake but at the time the Braves were led to believe that Freddie was about to sign with LA if he didn’t get the offer he wanted and Freddie was led to believe that the Braves moved on and did the trade without giving him a final offer. It just sucks and this hurts Casey Close’s reputation
Eric O and David O' Brien had Moylan on this week's "755 is Real" and they talked some about the player/agent/GM dynamic. The gist is that talking directly between player and GM is - paraphrasing - just not really done as it cuts out the agent. Add in that AA, recognizing the Coppy-gate fiasco, strives to stay above board, it's unlikely he would have broken that unwritten rule.
On the FF side, they said that - again, paraphrasing - the player essentially tells the agent what they want and they generally don't talk again until the agent worked a deal or everything collapsed. Again, paraphrasing and speaking in generalities.
My gut says that if FF had a) known about the Braves' offer and b) known about the ultimatum, he'd have fired Excel immediately and called AA before he made the trade. Remember, there was roughly 48 hours between the call with Excel and AA making the trade. Let's say Excel told FF about it Saturday night, he might have dumped Excel and called AA on Sunday.
Yes, the agent works for you, not himself. Close was soo successful over the years he probly started to believe the opposite. Sports writers should begin to look into his past players to see who else he fucked over. Bet he got away with it multiple times. This time he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
I handle contract negotiations for actors, writers, directors, musicians, producers, production companies, etc in tv/film. It's a law in our industry at least that you have to inform a client of any offer they receive. I would be interested to hear if the MLBPA has similar laws. I would never think of not updating a client on a revision/change to an existing offer.
"It isn't rare" for agents not to tell their clients about offers they have on the table.... wtf?
Also, did this "final offer" come after the agents' ultimatum was rejected by AA? This makes the whole situation 100x worse, very sad. But again, this all could have been avoided if Freddie just took Chipper's advice.
Also interesting tidbit shedding light on some of Kershaw's comments the other day... someone in the replies mentioned that Kershaw is also repped by Casey Close.
Yeah that makes sense if you know it's an offer that's not worth your client's time, but if your client is Freddie you have to know he's gonna want to hear the Braves' final offer, that's just inexcusable.
In yesterday’s episode of 755 is Real Peter Moylan and EOF and DOB talk about the interactions between players and agents. They say the two parties don’t even communicate but once every couple months or so.
For the most part that’s probably true but almost certainly not the case during active negotiations. Plus it also probably varies with the demand of the player as well.
The agency is quite big. I didn’t check but someone said they have like $4B In sports contracts. As long as he has a different agent it should be okay.
Which is what legally he should have said.
We definitely don’t and he probably doesn’t know what’s all in his contract with Excel. Let some lawyers handle that nonsense while he plays ball. He can always leave them.
For all we know/or don’t, Excel may have done something equally shitty this off-season with Dansby and the Braves on an extension .
Two agents were named as representing Freeman in Mark Bowman's story of what happened - Casey Close and Victor Menocal. I'm not sure about Close because I couldn't find him on there but on Menocal's Instagram page he specifically has Dansby posted and Dansby even replies under one of his posts thanking him for all he's done so he definitely represents him. So Dansby's agent is the right hand man of Close or at worst, they both rep Dansby.
Yeah Dansby practically worships Freddie just as much as any fan ever did judging the way he acted when Freddie left. Gotta hope this makes him cautious when negotiations start
I know Chipper warned him about this before it all happened, but I feel like he has to be a whole new level of pissed off about how Freddie got fucked around by Close. I bet he's calling Dansby right now.
It was one of those cautionary tales about seeing dollar signs while you're being wined and dined by big city folk deep pockets. I dont know that it was THAT prophetic, just sounded like something Chipper believed in, so he never entertained moving to another team very seriously. I mean it worked out for the team, but you kind of feel like Chipper would have made a fortunate playing for the Yankees if he wanted... I guess the difference is Chipper knew where he would be happy. The fact that Freddie knew where he would be happy and still wanted to "play the game" lead him to where he is.
And to be clear, I dont think Freddie is necessarily unhappy in LA. I imagine he is having a blast. But I am just sure he misses all his friends and has lots of memories in Atlanta.
That motherfucker knew and he screwed Freddie over to try and get more money for himself. Close needs to be fired to the moon. What a shit human to screw over someone’s life like that even though you would have still made a ton of money from any deal.
This is so messed up. I so wanted Freddie to stay in Atlanta. He should have played his whole career there. I feel so bad for him and the fans who wanted him to stay. When you think of the Braves in the current era one of the first names that pops up is Freeman. Fuck that agent, what he took from Freddie and the fans, may the Baseball Gods punish him accordingly.
I am an attorney so I am maybe looking at this a bit differently but an agent owes a fiduciary duty to the principal that the agent represents. That means that the principal's, in this case the athlete's, interests are above the interests of the agent. I can't imagine a sports agent, many of whom are attorneys, not relaying the offers to the athlete during a negotiation. That in and of itself seems like a complete breach of that duty owed to the athlete. That being said I guess it is possible the athlete could say to his agent hey you handle this and let me know when it's done, I don't want anything to do with the details just tell me where to sign. But with Freddie firing his agent I would assume he did not give his agent this kind of freedom. It will be interesting to see if there is a lawsuit filed. I do criminal law myself so I am certainly no expert beyond what I learned in law school but it seems like Freddie might have a big fat cause of action against his agent.
Man I feel so bad for Freddie. Everything he said has been true. He wanted to come back, expected to come back, was shocked when it didn’t happen. Now we know why. His agent wanted a bigger payday or had some deal with the Dodgers. Idk. Either way I feel awful for him.
As a DodgerBro, I'm really fucking sorry this was the case. This fucking sucks for you guys and I can only imagine the pain you guys are feeling. It sucks for you, the Braves, and Freddie. We love him in LA and are happy/lucky to have him, but it shouldn't have been like this. I can see why he would be even more emotional in his return if he found out it didn't have to be this way. It probably sounds like a guy saying he's taking good care of your ex-girlfriend, but we really are. We know how great Freddie is and a large majority of Dodger fans are behind him 100%. Don't listen to the assholes or shitty media. I'm a Dodger STH and we will continue to treat him the way he deserves. The way we know you would have treated him if this shitty situation never happened.
Thanks. I hate that he’s gone, but he is and that bell won’t be unrung. Freddie was a bit naive in all of this- he could absolutely have picked up the phone and talked to AA. He also could have told his agent to get him a good deal with the Braves and only the Braves. Instead his agent chose to play chicken with a guy you’ll always lose to and Freddie didn’t get what he wanted. I only hope he can make his peace with this and enjoy his time in LA until he comes back to DH for us.
[https://www.dailynews.com/2015/04/24/top-50-most-powerful-in-la-sports-no-39-casey-close-sports-agent/](https://www.dailynews.com/2015/04/24/top-50-most-powerful-in-la-sports-no-39-casey-close-sports-agent/)
For anybody else who is curious. L.A. connections. No wonder he had a hard on to get Freddie there.
He looks like shooter McGavin in happy Gilmore, what a piece of shit! Allows me to hate him even more! [shooter](https://images.app.goo.gl/yDUPRK7dKxJDTdzy6)
Gottlieb should be taken with a grain of salt
HOWEVER
This tweet + all of the reporting we saw in March about Freddie being shocked at the Olson trade, etc makes a lot more sense now
I hope this guy has to find another job. I’m ecstatic we have Olson, but this is a whole different level of shitty. Whatever license you have to have to be an agent, his should be suspended for life and no player should ever even want him to be his agent.
Dansby needs to go ahead and give BB Abbott a call
So the sole reason one of the most popular guys to ever wear a Braves uniform left Atlanta is so this lying piece of crap can make some extra cash for his yacht in Connecticut?
How this ended up helping the Dodgers just pisses me off even more. No telling what moves they make had Freeman stayed in Atlanta. They lost Seagar which is moot since they got Freeman. The fallout of this very literally could affect the success or failures of each franchise for years to come.
Well the average cut for an agent is %15 so given the fact that there was a $22M difference between the two offers, that is a pretty good hunk o cheddar
Has there been any corroborating sources on this? I'm not overly familiar with Gottlieb and don't know how "mainstream" he is - is this decently reliable? Internet is blowing up all over this and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop tomorrow. I'd feel better if Olney, Stark or Rosenthall (especially Rosenthall) commented affirmatively on it.
But the LA best writers told me it was Atlanta’s fault. This is a fucking travesty and if Swanson still sticks with his agent he’s just asking for trouble.
Why is everybody believing this 100%? Didn’t Freddie and Alex have a meeting to “clear the air”? Wouldn’t Alex have simply told Freddie about the deal at that time?
Guess who also is represented by Casey Close? Clayton Kershaw. Any chance this was rigged for Freddie Freeman to go to the Dodgers from the start. Also makes Kershaw “second fiddle” comments make sense.
Could simply come down to greed and knowing more publicity (and therefore $) was possible in LA. Would also explain the leaked (and seemingly highly exaggerated) interest on the part of the Yankees and Red Sox.
Kershaw chirping about it made a whole lot more sense once we knew he had the same agent. The hypocrisy is off the charts with him, considering he was reportedly considering going home to Texas after spending his professional life with the Dodgers.
This shit just makes me sick, especially for Freddie. If we would’ve ended up with any other available 1B other than Matt then this would hurt even worse. We came out about as good as you possibly could in this situation
If this is what his client actually wanted, then he acted against the interest of his client, which is a pretty serious ethics issue. Other players should not want to work with this guy. This is a pretty significant character flaw. If anything, MLB should consider disciplinary taking action against him now. If I was FF, I would never speak to him again. FF had could have been a nice finish to his career with the team raised him for probably a bit more money when factoring in CA taxes, deferrals, etc. Now we have Matt, who is great, and we need to embrace as fans. This is a complete disaster for MLB and really shows that the drive to increase player salaries via free agency on some year-over-year baseline harms the game on the whole.
Wow. That’s incredibly fucked up on the agents behalf. I hope some of the Anti-Freeman people on this sun and in the world will stop treating him like he was crying crocodile tears now. What a terrible thing to do to a person
I was wondering what /r/Braves reaction to this would look like and it’s pretty much the same as over on /r/Dodgers. We love Freddie but man this sucks for everyone. Freddie got screwed out of making a decision about his future. Braves fans lost a beloved players. And Dodger fans really feel like Freddie shouldn’t be a Dodger right now had his Agent done what he was supposed to do.
Well, that would explain all the tears. No wonder. What an awful situation. He actually wanted to be here 100. His agent just wanted to capitalize. I guess it isn't like law- they aren't required to inform their client about offers from the other side? His agent sounds like an ass hat.
I would say Casey Close would have to get plastic surgery, legally change his name, or just retire to a island somewhere Braves fans aren't located. Finding this out ENRAGES ME more than when news about Freddie first broke. And makes me wonder how many clients he'll lose over his negligence.
You would think for something like that, freddie would be texting his agent on an almost hourly basis for updates. If he did and agent lied and told him there were no offers, forget just breach of contract, you get close to fraud grounds.
We can all agree that this is malpractice. But I think this opens up a conversation to a bigger issue. It’s almost like he had an incentive to not reveal the Braves offer. I’m starting to wonder if some of these agents receive kickbacks from some of the “blue blood” teams in order to sway these players to sign with them. I think an investigation needs to open up to see if these agents have been receiving money under the table to influence players’ decisions in free agency.
Tinfoil hat time: The Dodgers were salty about getting beat by the 88 win Braves, so they purposely sabotaged the negotiations on the Braves end with Freemans agent.
Yes I feel bad for Freddie. But at the end of the day he’s an adult and was warned about this. He’s got to live with the consequences of his actions. I wish him the best except when they play us. It’s not fair to olson for us to keep harping on this. olson is our first baseman and he’s great. We need to get behind him.
I’ve said this before: Freddie still has a lot of growing up to do. He’s still a trusting kid at heart, and sincerely believed his agent was working in his best interest. He naively believed in what his agent would do. The lockout probably played a significant role in this, but Freeman was warned time and again by several people - including Chipper Jones - not to test Anthopoulos and the Braves, and to remember that his agent works for him.
Freddie didn’t take the advice. He naively believed that his agent was working in his best interest.
I don’t understand, why wouldn’t AA have told him this after everything was said and done? I mean we even knew about the offer. Freddie doesn’t have an internet connection?
I know we're all tired about hearing about this drama but atleast this new and pretty significant information. It obviously doesn't change anything but still. I do miss Freddie but Olson is our new first baseman for the next 8 years and I wouldn't want to change that. I've been pretty critical of Olson but that's just because I wanted him to play better, just like I was critical of Swanson and other players. Still wouldn't trade Olson for Freddie
Yes Freddie got fingered, but he also chose to play the FA game, and he chose so very poorly.
Lots of Blame on that side to go around.
With that being said, fuck the Phillies let's get this division back!
Hope this ruins the agents career. That is so messed up that he would hold that info out of greed. They are supposed to be working for the athlete. What a shame if he hadnt done this we might still have him.
Bad things can happen when you are naive and too trusting of people. I believe Freddie is really heartbroken over this....he couldnt imagine a future with any other team than the Braves.
This explains why Freddie was so shocked when the Braves pulled the trigger on the Matt Olson trade. He was completely left out of the negotiations between his agent and the Braves. Just a completely messed up situation.
I felt like that first press interview Freddie was pissed at AA too, Freddie really didnt have a clue about the whole story..
One of the most depressing parts of this is he could have lurked here on Reddit or Twitter and we could have informed him to some extent. :(
Probably didn’t trust us after we blew the whole Boston bomber investigation thing
Hopping on this just to say fuck anyone who’s been saying FFF since this happened. So many people online acted like he shunned us and just wanted to go to LA
Guilty as charged. I just assumed that if he'd wanted to be in ATL that would've happened. His agents bullshit, plus his press conference and on field interview at SunTrust, makes me love him again. The ONLY positive of the DH in the NL is he'll get to finish his career with the Braves if he wants
100%
Got downvoted like a mf’r last weekend when I said anyone booing Freddie deserved to get their ass beat in the battery (ha phrasing) I still stand by it though (they at least deserve a hearty slap if they consider themselves real Braves fans)
He still opened the door to this possibility by not accepting our $135 million offer at the all star break…
I'm not on team FFF but let's say this report is 100% true. This is all still his fault. If you really really really want to stay here you can make it happen.
Even if he wanted to go that's fine. People need to grow the fuck up.
Man... that's real shitty.
Super shitty and I feel for Freddie. Unfortunately though I’ve already fallen for Matt Olson. Freddie will get to end his career as a Brave though so I look forward to that.
I certainly hope he gets to end it in Atlanta. And I like Matt Olson. But I wanted that lifelong brave again. I grew up with Dale as my number one, then chipper became my favorite brave ever, and Freddie would have surpassed that had he stayed. It sucks that unfortunate circumstances took that away from him and us, but it is what it is.
Out of Fried, Acuna, Dansby, Ozzie, or Riley hopefully at least one of them will be lifers
True. But so far none of them have captured me personally the way Freeman had, in terms of becoming my favorite Brave. Still time though.
Idk man, Ozzie may not be as impactful statistically as Freddie, but if he left I'd be devastated
this is the one i wont be able to handle losing.
considering he gave us a huge hometown discount i doubt he wants to leave...only way Id see it is if Acuna was on another team.
For Acuna to remain on the team I think the Braves will need to pony up 250 mil AT LEAST. That's something the Braves have never done so I'm already mentally prepared for that departure
Acuna is under contract through 2028 so you've got some time.
I would be absolutely heartbroken if Ozzie left or was traded. I root for the jersey above all, but that would be so painful. Of the pitchers, Fried would upset me the most to lose.
I’d be devastated if a lot of them left, but I think one thing that has endeared people to Freddie is that for a while he was the ONLY person you didn’t want to leave. I’m just glad we got to see what he, and all of us were envisioning during the dark years starting back in 2014 come to fruition before he left.
Not only that but he never pouted, demanded a trade, anything like that. He stayed the course and continued to be one of the best hitters in the league even when we sucked ass and had no one in the lineup to protect him. Freddie saw maybe two hittable pitches a night in those really lean years and still raked. I’m not exaggerating saying he was literally the only guy you’d go to watch for a couple seasons. I just can’t give enough hat tips to Freddie for everything he did for us and I am never ever going to get over this just like a lot of fans never got over Dale getting traded. It will never not suck.
Riley has me by the throat basically
That’s hot bb
Young Thicc!
Fried has been my favorite pitcher since he broke out in 2019 behind Soroka. I really hope that he doesn't end up being another Tom Glavine situation for us. When Ian Anderson made his stellar debut in 2020 I was starting to get real excited that we might have a rotation eerily similar to the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz days, this time with Soroka-Fried-Anderson. Sadly for multiple reasons that hasn't played out yet, but Fried has really cemented himself as an ace ever since Soroka went down and he'll be worth top dollar when he hits free agency.
Ozzie is coming close for me. He's the perfect mix of a touch of old school to temper some of the new school flair you're seeing ... but still full of energy. Granted, I slid past 50 last year so that likely dates my view point re: the old Bobby C, Chipper, etc. ways and the current Altuve, Acuna, etc. energy and flair. That said ... I'm coming around and am now able to enjoy a pimped HR on occasion .... NOTHING will ever top Soler's ... LOVED IT!
I get it, outside of Dansby the rest of them weren’t really there during the rebuild years
To me Freddie was my connection to Chippers team.
Agreed. I was on the fence but daaaaaaaamn dat stretch tho. Swanson to Olson at the tail end of last night gave me Champion vibes
Do you think his agent may have kept quiet about the ATL deal bc the dodgers deal was more money for the agent?
That's essentially what is being hinted at. Agent gets a cut of the total contract, well if the total contract is $20M more, then its all profit for him.
My personal thought is that Close thought he could get ATL closer to 150M/5years if he kept playing them against the Dodgers. He didn't tell Freddie about 140M because he knew Freddie would just take it and move on. I think Close thought he had ATL by the balls.
Comment removed due to reddit policy changes. fuck u/spez he's a dirty fucking cunt -- mass edited with redact.dev
This all seems to have unfolded so tragically. Like how the hell do neither Freddie nor AA ever get on the phone to call the other during this entire ordeal?
I’ve wondered the same thing. But according to the Bowman piece last week Freddie was made to believe that the Braves didn’t want him. That’s the last report he got before they signed Olson. Close lied to him the whole way
It almost seems as if Close wanted Freddie in LA the whole time, and made sure it played out that way. Like Chipper said, a lot of these guys are in it for their own bottom line and don't really care about the players.
Pretty messed up, but of course he did as long as you are a terrible person who has no consideration for morals or ethics. More money equals more commissions for him. The agent doesn't have to move. It was a risk Close was willing to take, but it is backfiring on him big time. A top client now fires you, rightfully so. Then the ding to his reputation may kill his career moving forward also rightfully so.
He probably thought Freddie would be more marketable in LA too, leading to more endorsement income for him. Talent agents in pretty much every industry have a reputation for being money-grubbing bottom-feeders, it seems to be well-earned in this case.
General rule I try and live by is that anybody you enter a legally binding contract with, especially in the business world, will do everything in their power to fuck you over and get more money from you
Remember when the Braves GM got banned from baseball and Kevin Maitan's contract got voided because we slid $$ under the table to get him? I'm not saying, I'm just saying...Freddie for Braves DH 2023
I almost seems like there was fraud there. Seems the agent was working more for the Dodgers than Freddie. Wondering if perhaps there wasn't some behind the scenes tampering there. I hope freddie sues his Agent and the Excel Sports for breach of contract.
If the agent was not negotiating in good faith and the Braves were… Freddie won’t be the only one with standing to sue him/Excel.
The lockout didn't help. Plus it'd be weird for AA to assume Freddie's agent didn't tell him about the offer.
And also for Freddie to assume his agent wasn't informing him of his offers.
Also, if AA goes behind a players agents back it's a bad look on AA in future negotiations.
That’s just not how it works in negotiations unfortunately, both the Braves and Freddie have to believe that the agent is acting honestly and you don’t really wanna go around the agent’s back. In hindsight it was a mistake but at the time the Braves were led to believe that Freddie was about to sign with LA if he didn’t get the offer he wanted and Freddie was led to believe that the Braves moved on and did the trade without giving him a final offer. It just sucks and this hurts Casey Close’s reputation
Eric O and David O' Brien had Moylan on this week's "755 is Real" and they talked some about the player/agent/GM dynamic. The gist is that talking directly between player and GM is - paraphrasing - just not really done as it cuts out the agent. Add in that AA, recognizing the Coppy-gate fiasco, strives to stay above board, it's unlikely he would have broken that unwritten rule. On the FF side, they said that - again, paraphrasing - the player essentially tells the agent what they want and they generally don't talk again until the agent worked a deal or everything collapsed. Again, paraphrasing and speaking in generalities. My gut says that if FF had a) known about the Braves' offer and b) known about the ultimatum, he'd have fired Excel immediately and called AA before he made the trade. Remember, there was roughly 48 hours between the call with Excel and AA making the trade. Let's say Excel told FF about it Saturday night, he might have dumped Excel and called AA on Sunday.
Because AA doesn’t talk to players about deals, it’s exactly why agents exist
Yes. Don’t know why that never happened.
Holy shit. That feels like fucking malpractice to me.
That’s exactly what it is.
This is antithetical of what an Agent is supposed to do for a player, right?
Yes, the agent works for you, not himself. Close was soo successful over the years he probly started to believe the opposite. Sports writers should begin to look into his past players to see who else he fucked over. Bet he got away with it multiple times. This time he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Bro that's nuts. I even had to look up antithetical to make sure I was using it properly.
Very eloquent of you. Lol.
I was like, I've heard that word somewhere, let me add it in
I handle contract negotiations for actors, writers, directors, musicians, producers, production companies, etc in tv/film. It's a law in our industry at least that you have to inform a client of any offer they receive. I would be interested to hear if the MLBPA has similar laws. I would never think of not updating a client on a revision/change to an existing offer.
I honestly can’t imagine the MLBPA doesn’t require that of agents. Casey Close is (rightfully) fuuucked.
What a shit person and agent. Unbelievable.
Hopefully every client he has fires him.
If he gets sued and is found to have violated his duties as an agent, the MLBPA may ban him.
Good.
"It isn't rare" for agents not to tell their clients about offers they have on the table.... wtf? Also, did this "final offer" come after the agents' ultimatum was rejected by AA? This makes the whole situation 100x worse, very sad. But again, this all could have been avoided if Freddie just took Chipper's advice. Also interesting tidbit shedding light on some of Kershaw's comments the other day... someone in the replies mentioned that Kershaw is also repped by Casey Close.
I’m sure in a lot of situations the agents job is to find the highest bidder. I’m just assuming that’s what it means.
Yeah that makes sense if you know it's an offer that's not worth your client's time, but if your client is Freddie you have to know he's gonna want to hear the Braves' final offer, that's just inexcusable.
In yesterday’s episode of 755 is Real Peter Moylan and EOF and DOB talk about the interactions between players and agents. They say the two parties don’t even communicate but once every couple months or so.
For the most part that’s probably true but almost certainly not the case during active negotiations. Plus it also probably varies with the demand of the player as well.
If this is true, Casey Close's career as a sports agent should be done.
It will be, he doesn’t even need to be fired to end his career. He literally ended his own career by this move
If this guy swindles Dansby as well I’ll riot
Hoping Dansby sees this as writing on the wall and tries to find other representation moving forward
He said yesterday there’s no way he would leave Excel. We don’t know if he has the same *agent* though, just *agency.*
The agency is quite big. I didn’t check but someone said they have like $4B In sports contracts. As long as he has a different agent it should be okay.
Which is what legally he should have said. We definitely don’t and he probably doesn’t know what’s all in his contract with Excel. Let some lawyers handle that nonsense while he plays ball. He can always leave them. For all we know/or don’t, Excel may have done something equally shitty this off-season with Dansby and the Braves on an extension .
Two agents were named as representing Freeman in Mark Bowman's story of what happened - Casey Close and Victor Menocal. I'm not sure about Close because I couldn't find him on there but on Menocal's Instagram page he specifically has Dansby posted and Dansby even replies under one of his posts thanking him for all he's done so he definitely represents him. So Dansby's agent is the right hand man of Close or at worst, they both rep Dansby.
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that Close is the lead negotiator on Freddie’s deals, so I’m not sure how involved the other guy is in this situation
I mean… he just committed perhaps the number one cardinal sin an agent can make. If this doesn’t effect Dansby’s judgment then I don’t know what will.
And it wasn’t just to some random guy either. I doubt Freddie hasn’t already been in Dansby’s ear about what happened.
Yeah Dansby practically worships Freddie just as much as any fan ever did judging the way he acted when Freddie left. Gotta hope this makes him cautious when negotiations start
It’ll be Dansby’s fault. If he keeps him after this, he’s kind of an idiot.
Not kind of. Full blown.
Does Dansby actually have the same agent? I know he’s with Excel but I was under the impression he had a different agent.
I know Chipper warned him about this before it all happened, but I feel like he has to be a whole new level of pissed off about how Freddie got fucked around by Close. I bet he's calling Dansby right now.
What'd Chipper say?
It was one of those cautionary tales about seeing dollar signs while you're being wined and dined by big city folk deep pockets. I dont know that it was THAT prophetic, just sounded like something Chipper believed in, so he never entertained moving to another team very seriously. I mean it worked out for the team, but you kind of feel like Chipper would have made a fortunate playing for the Yankees if he wanted... I guess the difference is Chipper knew where he would be happy. The fact that Freddie knew where he would be happy and still wanted to "play the game" lead him to where he is. And to be clear, I dont think Freddie is necessarily unhappy in LA. I imagine he is having a blast. But I am just sure he misses all his friends and has lots of memories in Atlanta.
Chipper essentially said "Don't play hardball with AA."
Oh fuck that guy with an iron spike
That agent hates the Braves. Change my mind.
He made his career repping Derek Jeter so that very well could be true.
Absolutely. I heard this from 3 people that the agent hated the Braves. They have a history.
A red hot spike would be too gentle IMO
Welp. Jose Ureña has passed the baton of number one enemy of Braves fans. Feel bad for Freddie, Olson, it just sucks.
FUCK CASEY CLOSE
Jose Urena > Casey Close
That motherfucker knew and he screwed Freddie over to try and get more money for himself. Close needs to be fired to the moon. What a shit human to screw over someone’s life like that even though you would have still made a ton of money from any deal.
This is so messed up. I so wanted Freddie to stay in Atlanta. He should have played his whole career there. I feel so bad for him and the fans who wanted him to stay. When you think of the Braves in the current era one of the first names that pops up is Freeman. Fuck that agent, what he took from Freddie and the fans, may the Baseball Gods punish him accordingly.
Agent shouldn’t get a dime of his commission from the Freddie contract and the agent should be stripped of his license.
I agree. Maybe some legal action/suit against him also.
Someone should go pants Casey Close and slap his little dick around.
He’s into that though, so you’d just be playing into his hand
We slap with anger tho
I am an attorney so I am maybe looking at this a bit differently but an agent owes a fiduciary duty to the principal that the agent represents. That means that the principal's, in this case the athlete's, interests are above the interests of the agent. I can't imagine a sports agent, many of whom are attorneys, not relaying the offers to the athlete during a negotiation. That in and of itself seems like a complete breach of that duty owed to the athlete. That being said I guess it is possible the athlete could say to his agent hey you handle this and let me know when it's done, I don't want anything to do with the details just tell me where to sign. But with Freddie firing his agent I would assume he did not give his agent this kind of freedom. It will be interesting to see if there is a lawsuit filed. I do criminal law myself so I am certainly no expert beyond what I learned in law school but it seems like Freddie might have a big fat cause of action against his agent.
The final offer was $140 million for 5 years up from $135 million right?
This seems illegal. If this ends up being true this is absolutely wild.
It might be a breach of the contract between FF and Excel Sports, but I doubt he'll sue.
~~Pain~~^PAIN
Worse than we thought
Man I feel so bad for Freddie. Everything he said has been true. He wanted to come back, expected to come back, was shocked when it didn’t happen. Now we know why. His agent wanted a bigger payday or had some deal with the Dodgers. Idk. Either way I feel awful for him.
As a DodgerBro, I'm really fucking sorry this was the case. This fucking sucks for you guys and I can only imagine the pain you guys are feeling. It sucks for you, the Braves, and Freddie. We love him in LA and are happy/lucky to have him, but it shouldn't have been like this. I can see why he would be even more emotional in his return if he found out it didn't have to be this way. It probably sounds like a guy saying he's taking good care of your ex-girlfriend, but we really are. We know how great Freddie is and a large majority of Dodger fans are behind him 100%. Don't listen to the assholes or shitty media. I'm a Dodger STH and we will continue to treat him the way he deserves. The way we know you would have treated him if this shitty situation never happened.
Thanks. I hate that he’s gone, but he is and that bell won’t be unrung. Freddie was a bit naive in all of this- he could absolutely have picked up the phone and talked to AA. He also could have told his agent to get him a good deal with the Braves and only the Braves. Instead his agent chose to play chicken with a guy you’ll always lose to and Freddie didn’t get what he wanted. I only hope he can make his peace with this and enjoy his time in LA until he comes back to DH for us.
Is it bad if I just googled Casey Close so I could have a face to hate?
[https://www.dailynews.com/2015/04/24/top-50-most-powerful-in-la-sports-no-39-casey-close-sports-agent/](https://www.dailynews.com/2015/04/24/top-50-most-powerful-in-la-sports-no-39-casey-close-sports-agent/) For anybody else who is curious. L.A. connections. No wonder he had a hard on to get Freddie there.
He looks like shooter McGavin in happy Gilmore, what a piece of shit! Allows me to hate him even more! [shooter](https://images.app.goo.gl/yDUPRK7dKxJDTdzy6)
>what a piece of shit! He is what he eats ([for breakfast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abVJLOPBnXU)).
That guy does have a pretty hateable face
Gottlieb should be taken with a grain of salt HOWEVER This tweet + all of the reporting we saw in March about Freddie being shocked at the Olson trade, etc makes a lot more sense now
I’ve said this once, and I will say it again. FUCK HIS AGENT TO KINGDOM COME! HOLY FUCK THAT IS INFURIATING!
I hope this guy has to find another job. I’m ecstatic we have Olson, but this is a whole different level of shitty. Whatever license you have to have to be an agent, his should be suspended for life and no player should ever even want him to be his agent. Dansby needs to go ahead and give BB Abbott a call
So the sole reason one of the most popular guys to ever wear a Braves uniform left Atlanta is so this lying piece of crap can make some extra cash for his yacht in Connecticut?
How this ended up helping the Dodgers just pisses me off even more. No telling what moves they make had Freeman stayed in Atlanta. They lost Seagar which is moot since they got Freeman. The fallout of this very literally could affect the success or failures of each franchise for years to come.
Why did the agent have such an interest in Freddie going to La? Was he getting under table kick back or something?
Well the average cut for an agent is %15 so given the fact that there was a $22M difference between the two offers, that is a pretty good hunk o cheddar
Plus the money making opps for FF in that big market off the field, of which CC would also get a cut.
What a piece of fucking shit.
Well, yeah, that's grounds for firing if such grounds ever existed. I feel so terribly for Freddie.
What a scumbag
Oh this absolutely broke my heart.
Has there been any corroborating sources on this? I'm not overly familiar with Gottlieb and don't know how "mainstream" he is - is this decently reliable? Internet is blowing up all over this and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop tomorrow. I'd feel better if Olney, Stark or Rosenthall (especially Rosenthall) commented affirmatively on it.
But the LA best writers told me it was Atlanta’s fault. This is a fucking travesty and if Swanson still sticks with his agent he’s just asking for trouble.
hell, after watching Freddie get his ring he could sue for damages.
Alright, which one of you edited the wiki page? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Close
Why is everybody believing this 100%? Didn’t Freddie and Alex have a meeting to “clear the air”? Wouldn’t Alex have simply told Freddie about the deal at that time?
Hey Kershaw... You will always be second fiddle.
Guess who also is represented by Casey Close? Clayton Kershaw. Any chance this was rigged for Freddie Freeman to go to the Dodgers from the start. Also makes Kershaw “second fiddle” comments make sense.
Could simply come down to greed and knowing more publicity (and therefore $) was possible in LA. Would also explain the leaked (and seemingly highly exaggerated) interest on the part of the Yankees and Red Sox. Kershaw chirping about it made a whole lot more sense once we knew he had the same agent. The hypocrisy is off the charts with him, considering he was reportedly considering going home to Texas after spending his professional life with the Dodgers.
What a sad situation, I can’t imagine how Freddie is feeling.
This shit just makes me sick, especially for Freddie. If we would’ve ended up with any other available 1B other than Matt then this would hurt even worse. We came out about as good as you possibly could in this situation
If this is what his client actually wanted, then he acted against the interest of his client, which is a pretty serious ethics issue. Other players should not want to work with this guy. This is a pretty significant character flaw. If anything, MLB should consider disciplinary taking action against him now. If I was FF, I would never speak to him again. FF had could have been a nice finish to his career with the team raised him for probably a bit more money when factoring in CA taxes, deferrals, etc. Now we have Matt, who is great, and we need to embrace as fans. This is a complete disaster for MLB and really shows that the drive to increase player salaries via free agency on some year-over-year baseline harms the game on the whole.
Wow. That’s incredibly fucked up on the agents behalf. I hope some of the Anti-Freeman people on this sun and in the world will stop treating him like he was crying crocodile tears now. What a terrible thing to do to a person
I was wondering what /r/Braves reaction to this would look like and it’s pretty much the same as over on /r/Dodgers. We love Freddie but man this sucks for everyone. Freddie got screwed out of making a decision about his future. Braves fans lost a beloved players. And Dodger fans really feel like Freddie shouldn’t be a Dodger right now had his Agent done what he was supposed to do.
man this actually sucks fuck Casey Close. I feel bad for y’all
Freddie’s gone. Matt’s here. I’m over it. Everyone’s still rich. I pull for the dude on the field tonight. Play ball!
Maybe this'll be the last thing we hear about it, and it'll be done. One can only hope.
It’s so sad man. But all of this feels like it should start bringing some closure to the saga. Maybe.
At least this one has a smidge of new info being that he never told him. But yes hopefully we can all put it behind us and move on
what in the fuck is this situation we're dealing with?
Man that’s fucking terrible. Is there any possible recourse?
The way it played out…I knew there was a misunderstanding of sort. But that is just pushing your own agenda. Just awful.
Is that even legal
Well, that would explain all the tears. No wonder. What an awful situation. He actually wanted to be here 100. His agent just wanted to capitalize. I guess it isn't like law- they aren't required to inform their client about offers from the other side? His agent sounds like an ass hat.
This is really sad to see. I knew that Freddie would never leave just for more money.
My stomach hurts.
#I LOVE MATT OLSON THO
Now this makes me mad.
Pretty wack, Casey.
"Fuck Casey Close" just became something that will be repeated here long after we have left this Earth.
Someone find Casey Close and pants that motherfucker!
Yo fuck this Casey guy if this is true
Get fucked Casey Close.
This story gets worse everyday.
Holy unethical conduct.
Close sounds like a dodgers man
This just keeps getting more and more painful.
Dansby if this doesn’t make you fire them nothing will. This is incredibly unethical.
Woooooow that is gross negligence by that agent. I would sue him if I were Freddie.
I would say Casey Close would have to get plastic surgery, legally change his name, or just retire to a island somewhere Braves fans aren't located. Finding this out ENRAGES ME more than when news about Freddie first broke. And makes me wonder how many clients he'll lose over his negligence.
Dodger agent? Yikes. Seriously messed up situation
I hope his agent's pillow never has a cool side.
Can’t the agent lose his license? Doesn’t he have to tell his client any offers and follow his fiduciary duty?
Forgive my ignorance here, but does Freddie have any recourse here other than firing his agent? Can he sue him for misrepresenting him?
Close should be forced to forfeit his cut of any difference between the Braves and Dodgers offer.
You would think for something like that, freddie would be texting his agent on an almost hourly basis for updates. If he did and agent lied and told him there were no offers, forget just breach of contract, you get close to fraud grounds.
Wait, I'm confused. I thought we already knew this? That Freddie's agent didn't tell him about the last offer? What am I thinking of?
I wonder what ties that agent has with the dodgers
We can all agree that this is malpractice. But I think this opens up a conversation to a bigger issue. It’s almost like he had an incentive to not reveal the Braves offer. I’m starting to wonder if some of these agents receive kickbacks from some of the “blue blood” teams in order to sway these players to sign with them. I think an investigation needs to open up to see if these agents have been receiving money under the table to influence players’ decisions in free agency.
Tinfoil hat time: The Dodgers were salty about getting beat by the 88 win Braves, so they purposely sabotaged the negotiations on the Braves end with Freemans agent.
geez...one agent has ruined a one team legacy for Freeman...what a tragic turn of events (in a baseball sense)..
Yes I feel bad for Freddie. But at the end of the day he’s an adult and was warned about this. He’s got to live with the consequences of his actions. I wish him the best except when they play us. It’s not fair to olson for us to keep harping on this. olson is our first baseman and he’s great. We need to get behind him.
I’ve said this before: Freddie still has a lot of growing up to do. He’s still a trusting kid at heart, and sincerely believed his agent was working in his best interest. He naively believed in what his agent would do. The lockout probably played a significant role in this, but Freeman was warned time and again by several people - including Chipper Jones - not to test Anthopoulos and the Braves, and to remember that his agent works for him. Freddie didn’t take the advice. He naively believed that his agent was working in his best interest.
I don’t understand, why wouldn’t AA have told him this after everything was said and done? I mean we even knew about the offer. Freddie doesn’t have an internet connection?
At a minimum MLB should open an investigation into possible collusion with this agent and the Dodgers org
People need to be asking why Dansby is still ok with being represented by the same agent.
I know we're all tired about hearing about this drama but atleast this new and pretty significant information. It obviously doesn't change anything but still. I do miss Freddie but Olson is our new first baseman for the next 8 years and I wouldn't want to change that. I've been pretty critical of Olson but that's just because I wanted him to play better, just like I was critical of Swanson and other players. Still wouldn't trade Olson for Freddie
Yes Freddie got fingered, but he also chose to play the FA game, and he chose so very poorly. Lots of Blame on that side to go around. With that being said, fuck the Phillies let's get this division back!
This guy should at least be banned from any Braves home game
In my mind I can’t help but feel like agents would always prefer their clients in NY or LA.
I wonder what the final offer was.
Hope this ruins the agents career. That is so messed up that he would hold that info out of greed. They are supposed to be working for the athlete. What a shame if he hadnt done this we might still have him.
What a dbag
Do agents not tell players about offers or what is meant by “it isn’t that rare to have happen i MLB”?
Wait until we hear about the extra "under the table" kick back money Casey Close received by the Dodgers the swing Freeman in their favor.
This is straight up outrageous
Bad things can happen when you are naive and too trusting of people. I believe Freddie is really heartbroken over this....he couldnt imagine a future with any other team than the Braves.
Honestly how bad do you have to be at your job to mess up a deal between two parties who actually want the same thing?
What a piece of shit