News
Email
Print
Sports Briefs: Schuerholz, Wren say Braves won't deal with Furcal's agents anymore
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: December 20, 2008
John Schuerholz, the president of the Atlanta Braves, has vowed to never again do business with Rafael Furcal's agents, whom Schuerholz accused in a newspaper interview of conducting "despicable" dealings with the team.
Schuerholz and General Manager Frank Wren of the Braves were quoted as saying the Wasserman Media Group negotiated dishonestly by taking the team's signed terms of agreement sheet for Furcal to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who then reached a preliminary agreement Wednesday to re-sign Furcal, a shortstop.
Wren has said he thought the request by agent Paul Kinzer for a term sheet signed by the Braves meant an agreement had been reached.
Schuerholz said he would never make an offer for any other player represented by the agency, which includes Kinzer and agents Arn Tellem, Adam Katz and Joel Wolfe. Tellem heads the baseball practice.
"Having been in this business for 40-some years, I've never seen anybody treated like that," Schuerholz said. The Atlanta Braves will no longer do business with that company -- ever. I told Arn Tellem that we can't trust them to be honest and forthright. I told him that in all my years, I've never seen any (agency) act in such a despicable manner."
Furcal, who played with the Braves from 2000-05, on Wednesday accepted a three-year contract with the Dodgers worth at least $30 million.
More baseball
■ CC Sabathia will receive $9.5 million from the New York Yankees before he throws his first official pitch in pinstripes.
His $161 million, seven-year contract includes a $9 million signing bonus, according to details obtained yesterday by The Associated Press. By the time the Yankees open at Baltimore on April 6, he already will have received $6 million of that bonus plus $3.5 million of next year's salary.
This is how it works:
□ The signing bonus is payable in three equal installments by Dec. 31 and by March 1 and July 31 next year.
□ He will get a $14 million salary in 2009 and $23 million in each of the final six seasons of the deal, the largest contract ever for a pitcher both in total dollars and average salary.
□ While most players are paid semimonthly during the six months of the regular season, Sabathia's salary will be paid in semimonthly installments over all 12 months of the year. That means he will have received six payments of $583,333 before the opener.
■ Outfielder Juan Rivera decided to stay with the Los Angeles Angels and yesterday agreed to a $12.75-million, three-year contract.
Rivera, 30, hit .246 with 12 homers and 45 RBIs in 89 games for the Angels last season, his fourth with the team. All 12 of his homers came in a b of 58 games after July 2. He also was the Angels' top pinch hitter with five hits in 14 at-bats and five RBIs including two game-winners.
■ Greg Norton and the Atlanta Braves agreed yesterday to an $800,000, one-year contract, a deal that keeps the pinch-hit specialist in Atlanta.
Norton led the major leagues with three homers, 18 RBIs and 17 walks as a pinch-hitter last season. A switch-hitter, he ranked second with 18 pinch hits.
Norton was acquired from Seattle in May and played first base, left field and right field with the Braves. He hit .262 with seven homers and 35 RBIs in 117 games with Atlanta and Seattle, including .323 with five homers after the All-Star break.
■ Outfielder Jody Gerut agreed yesterday with the San Diego Padres on a one-year contract worth $1,775,000.
Gerut hit .296 with 14 homers and 43 RBIs in 100 games for the Padres last season -- his first in the big leagues since 2005. He also hit .308 with five homers and 18 RBIs in 27 games for Class AAA Portland.
■ The Florida Marlins and pitcher Josh Johnson have agreed to a one-year, $1.4 million contract.
Johnson, 23, returned from elbow surgery in July to post a 7-1 record and a 3.61 ERA. He is 19-11 in three seasons, including 0-3 in an injury-shortened 2007, with a career ERA of 3.54. According to the agreement announced yesterday, he would get a $25,000 bonus each for 31 and 33 starts. If the contract is signed, the sides would avoid arbitration.
He is projected to be the Marlins' No. 1 starter in 2008.
Golf
■ Seve Ballesteros has returned to his home in northern Spain to begin chemotherapy treatment after recent surgery on a brain tumor.
Ballesteros, the Spanish golf great, was released from a Madrid hospital on Dec. 9.
"Today is Friday and I have started my first chemotherapy session," Ballesteros said on his Web site. "At this point, my thought is to rest and follow the neurosurgeons."
Ballesteros, winner of five major tournaments, said he would provide more news on his condition in January and wished all his fans a "Merry Christmas" and thanked them for their support.
Ballesteros was admitted to a hospital Oct. 6 after fainting at Madrid's international airport before boarding a flight to Germany. He underwent four separate operations, including a 6½-hour procedure Oct. 24 to remove the brain tumor and reduce swelling around the brain.
He won three British Opens and two Masters titles and recorded 50 career victories on the European Tour. He retired in 2007 because of a long history of back pain and has since concentrated on golf-course design.
Soccer
■ Goalkeeper Tim Howard of Everton and midfielder Carli Lloyd have been named U.S. soccer's male and female athletes of the year.
Howard had consecutive shutouts in World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago. Lloyd, the first midfielder to win the women's honor since Shannon MacMillan in 2002, scored as the United States beat Brazil 1-0 in overtime in the gold-medal game of the Beijing Olympics.
Online votes accounted for 50 percent of the balloting, with the remainder cast by media, coaches and the USSF board of directors.
■ Chad Steuck, a former standout at Virginia Tech, has joined the men's soccer staff at UNC Pembroke as an assistant coach. Steuck had been a graduate assistant at UNCP the last two seasons. He played at Virginia Tech from 2003 to 2006 and started 80 matches as a defender.
Email
Print
