Boras_madson
YES.

Jon Heyman, now of CBS Sports, relays this information from Ryan Madson's agent, Scott Boras: [CBS Sports]

Madson came close to doing a $44-million, four-year deal with the Phillies earlier this winter, as everyone knows by now. But Madson's agent Scott Boras wanted to make it clear that Madson did not reject that proposal, as has been suggested in some places on the blogosphere, and in fact informed the Phillies he was ready to sign back with the Phillies for that $44-million deal he said was proposed. "He told the Phillies he would accept it, and the Phillies decided not to execute it,'' Boras said by phone.

 

And here's more, as told to Jerry Crasnick: [ESPN.com]

"It's very simple," Boras said. "We never rejected any offer from Philadelphia at four years and $44 million. We advised Philadelphia that we would agree to such a proposal. And Philadelphia decided upon hearing that to go in a different direction."

When pressed for details on the discussions, Boras reiterated, "We agreed to a four-year, $44 million offer, and Philadelphia decided to sign someone else."

 

Huh. Sounds like the words of a guy who just lost his client $36 million… but it could be true. Ruben Amaro, however, disagrees that they agreed. He whipped out his presumably enraged cock and offered this response: [ESPN.com]

"There's no reason for me to get into a public debate with Scott on this [editor's note: heh]," Amaro said. "I have no desire to do that. All I can tell you is, there was never an agreement, and we decided that we wanted to sign someone with the experience and the ability of Jonathan Papelbon. So we went that route.

"There's no question we had discussions with Ryan about bringing him back. We had several discussions about it. But no agreement was made. If we had come to an agreement, we would have signed him.''

 

I got my popcorn. I'm not sure who to root for, though. It's like choosing between a snake and a liar. I'm kidding! Go, Rube! Go!

But, who's telling the truth?

In November, the Phillies and Madson were reportedly close to agreeing on a $44 million deal. Almost immediately after those stories came out, though, local beat writers chimed in, saying that the Phils preferred Papelbon (credit to Jim Salisbury there), whom they eventually signed. Perhaps all the commotion, at the time, was over the fact that the Phillies gently or not-so-gently backed out on their offer to Madson. And if that was the case, it would explain what's below from Heyman, who was given his information by Boras: [CBS Sports]

The Phillies at some point tried to re-engage Madson about returning on a much lower deal, but after being under the impression he had a deal with his old team for $44 million Madson never re-entered serious talks with his old team. 

 

Scene: “Hey, how’s $44 million sound?” 

“Great! I’ll take.”

“Never mind, we gave $50,000,058 to the river dancer. How’s $8 million?”

“Fuck you. … Oh, and Sarah says fuck the fans.”

 

That’s probably not exactly how it went down, but I'd imagine it's close.

However, if Amaro is the one telling the truth – that there was no deal in place – then we can safely assume that Boras is looking for a villain, and Madson chose the Reds because he wanted an opportunity to close, not because he was pissed off at the Phillies. The world will never know.

And yes, that is a penis straw separating Boras and Amaro in the image at the top of this post. I thought it, um, fit.

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