Freddie Freeman’s first trip back to Atlanta as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers has resulted in shocking drama. Freeman was welcomed with open arms, which came as no surprise. But then he fired Casey Close, Excel Sports Management’s lead agent, immediately after the series ended. Freeman tweeted that it was an emotional time, but it’s not hard to read between the lines and believe that Freeman has realized how unhappy he was to be no longer with the Braves after returning to his old haunts had returned. The fact that he fired Close suggests Freeman blamed the agency.
Freeman’s departure from Atlanta last offseason was unforeseen, to say the least, but the consensus tended to blame the organization rather than the player. The Braves eventually won the World Series and then went cheap with their homebuilt All-Star. We’ve seen this story many times in Major League Baseball history. But how things went last weekend made everyone reconsider that position and believe there could be more to this story.
So here we are when Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb claims Close screwed up the Braves negotiations for Freeman by failing to report their latest offer.
Casey Close never told Freddie Freeman about the Braves’ latest offer, so Freeman fired him. He found out this weekend in Atlanta. It’s not that rare for it to have happened in MLB, but it did — Close knew Freddie would have accepted the ATL deal
– Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) June 29, 2022
In response, Close threatened legal action. Which is an unusual development we will say when it comes to the Scoop game.
Casey Close said: “Doug Gottlieb tweeted a completely inaccurate characterization of our negotiations with the Atlanta Braves on behalf of Freddie Freeman. We are immediately evaluating all legal options to take action against the reckless publication of inaccurate information.”
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) June
2022
It seems unlikely that this will lead to anything, for two reasons. First, proving conclusively that Gottlieb knew the information was false and chose to disseminate it anyway seems like a tall order. Second, it would force Close to engage in “discovery,” which is legal mumbo-jumbo because he’d have to prove to the court that the negotiations didn’t go that way, while revealing to the world how he’s negotiating. Regardless of what Close has to offer, it’s not exactly good business practice to give everyone insight into their negotiation strategy.
Therefore, Close must decide whether it is worth pursuing Gottlieb. We’ll see.
2022
