FanHouse

You'd think that yesterday's announcement that the Braves were going to let Andruw Jones walk as a free agent would make Scott Boras a happy man. After all, he's now got a chance at duping some other team into overpaying for a client coming off of his worst season as a major leaguer. But Boras being Boras he can't just move on without slamming John Schuerholz one last time.

"Andruw Jones was treated no differently than Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine. These are historic Braves players. The Braves are making millions of dollars. Because of their budget, apparently the current Braves can only keep a certain number of superstar players. I haven't spoke to John in well over a year which is contrary to what general managers do when they have statured players on their team."

For the record the Braves were outbid for Glavine and offered Maddux arbitration, something they've indicated they won't do with Jones. Why wouldn't they since they would get draft pick compensation if Jones signed elsewhere? Probably because Boras went back on his word and accepted arbitration for Maddux which forced the Braves to make deals to fit his salary back into their ledger.

Boras went to the Braves with his asking price and Schuerholz said that their thoughts were so far apart that there wasn't any point in making a counterproposal. It was a business decision not a personal one, something Boras urges his clients to make every time they opt for free agency instead of staying with their current team. Why he has a problem with it when it goes the other way is difficult to understand. Perhaps we'll get more enlightenment this time next year when team and agent do this dance with Mark Teixeira.