Spanish-language paper El Caribe spoke to Rafael Furcal, who said the A’s have offered four years, $48 M, with a couple more million in incentives. Furcal told the paper he’s coming back to the U.S. this week to sign a contract but was careful not to commit himself to a specific team. He also name-dropped the Mets, who apparently would play Furcal at second base. (An English interpretation of the Caribe story is here. Thanks to MLB Trade Rumors — who else?? — for the tip.)
If this is an attempt to smoke out competing offers, it’s interesting that the player, not his agent, is doing it. The inclusion of the Mets here makes me think it is posturing. Why the hell would Furcal, still a prime defensive shortstop, sign a long-term contract to play second base? (Unless the Mets have told him they would move Jose Reyes — not likely.)
If it’s true, though, it means the Giants are likely to turn to Edgar Renteria or Orlando Cabrera. I am nervous.
If it’s not true, it raises several questions. Did Furcal really say what the paper reported, or was he wildly misquoted? If he really said it, does he really believe it? Did someone feed him bad information? If he outright lied to the paper, what does that say about his character, and will it knock his value down a couple pegs? I’m very eager to see what his agent Paul Kinzler has to say about all this — ah, here’s his first riposte. I imagine Kinzler is reaching for the Maalox with one hand as he speed-dials reporters and GMs with the other.
Also of note: Furcal is described as a “torpedero.” A torpedo boat? I thought at first it was overly enthusiastic poetic license, something akin to describing Furcal as a human torpedo. Turns out torpedero is common Spanish baseball slang for shortstop. I never thought of this before, but shortstop has no equivalent English jargon. Catcher has “backstop” and “receiver,” pitcher has “hurler,” “southpaw,” “fireballer” and so on, third base is “the hot corner.” Short is a specialized position, you’d think there would be slang for it. Am I missing anything?
