Furcal Signs With Dodgers

FRIDAY, 8:37pm: The Furcal deal is official.  Jesse Spector has quotes from the conference call.

WEDNESDAY, 9:08pm: Just to keep this baby going, we have the contract numbers from Tony Jackson.  A backloaded three years, $30MM, $3MM of which is a bonus at the end of the contract.  The 2012 option for $13MM does vest with 600 PAs in ’11.

8:23pm: The deal may be done, but we still can’t get the numbers nailed down. According to Tim Brown’s writethru, it could be either $33MM or $30MM. Brown has "a Dodgers source" who says it’s the latter "and includes a fourth-year option for $12 million, vesting with 600 plate appearances in the third year. Other incentives could bring the total worth of the deal to about $45 million." The AP report (below) that gave the $33MM figure had quoted " a person familiar with the negotiations."

7:43pm: This MLB.com report from Ken Gurnick says "it is believed the deal is pending the passing of a physical exam." That’s probably about as final as we’re going to get for now. It’s worth noting that a little bit earlier, Tony Jackson talked to Kinzer, who said such a statement would be premature.  (The Dodgers, like most teams, don’t confirm deals until after the physical.)

7:08pm: The AP says the final numbers on the contract are 3 years, $33MM:

Furcal gets $7.5 million next season, $9.5 million in 2010 and $13 million in 2011. The deal includes a $13 million team option for 2012 with a $3 million buyout.

7:02pm: This wire report from CBSSports.com has a quote from Kinzer:

"They know we didn’t have a signed contract, that we didn’t have even a verbal agreement. We had, ’Things look very good and Raffy’s going to sleep on it,’" Kinzer said after a news conference for another client, Francisco Rodriguez.

5:53pm: Rosenthal has updated his post with a bit more info and a timeline from Wren. Around midnight on Monday, after much negotiating, Kinzer told Wren, "we’re good." Tuesday morning, says Rosenthal (note the slight discrepancy from Brown’s report below), Wren "got a voicemail from Kinzer" asking for the term sheet to be put together and faxed to him, which Wren did. "Shortly thereafter, Kinzer began ’backpedaling,’ saying he promised the Dodgers he would talk to them." And on Tuesday, the Dodgers "suddenly" appeared willing to grant Furcal a third year — and today, the Braves were told that Furcal would not be joining them.

5:43pm: Tim Brown reports that the Braves had sent Furcal a signed term sheet, according to "a club source." Monday night, Kinzer asked for the paperwork to be faxed to him. Braves GM Frank Wren complied Tuesday morning. Writes Brown:

No member of the Braves’ front office – not Wren, not longtime former GM John Schuerholz – could recall a time when a signed term sheet was not the equivalent of a handshake agreement, ethically – if not legally – binding.

Brown adds that the Braves believe Kinzer shopped the term sheet to the Dodgers, who had been reluctant to commit to a third year.

4:47pm: The latest from Rosenthal:

The Dodgers and Furcal were still hammering out an agreement Wednesday afternoon, sources said, but the Braves had been informed that Furcal would not accept their deal.

4:10pm: Ken Rosenthal says Furcal decided to sign with the Dodgers.

Mark Bowman’s latest doesn’t suggest Furcal made a decision, but he does explain why the Braves thought they had a deal.  Bowman’s source believes the Dodgers offered three years plus a fourth-year player option.

11:48am: Yahoo’s Tim Brown: Furcal is "nearing an agreement with the Dodgers."  Joel Sherman learned from Kinzer that the Dodgers are in the lead, having matched the Braves’ three-year, $30MM (plus a fourth-year vesting option) offer.  Paul Kinzer told Sherman the idea of switching to second base for the Braves gave Furcal pause.

Kinzer told Danny Knobler there was never a verbal agreement with the Braves.  Kinzer lives in Atlanta and received 50 phone calls from fans after the story broke yesterday.

9:39am: Yesterday we watched as Rafael Furcal and his agents seemingly ignored a gentleman’s agreement with the Braves to continue negotiating with the Dodgers.  Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times learned from Ned Colletti that the Dodgers improved their offer to Furcal (the original was two years with a vesting option).

According to Buster Olney, the Braves offered three years, $30MM with a vesting option for the fourth year.  Olney says the A’s were at $38MM guaranteed over four years.

Sarah Green also contributed to this post.