In a bit of surprising news, free agent Rafael Furcal has rejected the Oakland A's offer of 4 years and anywhere between $35-$40 million. Despite getting the multi-year deal he was searching for, it still wasn't enough.
The holdup in this deal appears to be the money, as Raffy still feels he's worth more than the money they were offering him. The A's were certainly the leading contenders for him, even with Bobby Crosby as their shortstop right now. But, he's going to roll the dice once again that he can get a deal that matches the 3-year/$39 million deal the Dodgers gave to him.
2 other teams that appeared to be in the running, the Blue Jays and Cardinals, are also set at SS. The Blue Jays have John McDonald or Marco Scutaro, and are also not looking to spend more money. The Cardinals just recently traded for Khalil Greene from the San Diego Padres.
I guess there's something that the Furcal camp knows that the rest of us don't, because this left me scratching my head. I can't imagine another team giving him a 4-year offer considering how injury-prone he's been the last 2 years. Rejected the A's deal would seem to indicate to me that the years aren't the issue and that the money is.
The Dodgers can still come back with a similar structure of a deal that they want to give Manny Ramirez. It obviously won't come close to the dollar amount, but a short-term deal (maybe 2 years) for $12-$15 per? That could happen.
We know how electric he can be when he is healthy, and that's what he's banking on right now. But, the Dodgers of all teams know how risky it is to sign players who can immediately be decimated by injuries. The last thing they need is another Jason Schmidt or Andruw Jones type of result.
The rest of the winter will be an intriguing one for Raffy. Once Spring Training comes around, it will be real interesting to look back at this time and see if the A's deal was one he should have said yes to, or if he truly did make the smart move and not sign.
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