Over the weekend we heard about how Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle were upset that “verbal assurances” that the Marlins were committed to them and that they wouldn’t be traded weren’t honored. Today Buehrle and his agent took it a step further and issued statements voicing their displeasure:
His agent Jeff Barry elaborated, saying “Mark held up his end of the bargain; unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the Marlins.”
I am obviously no fan of Jeff Loria and the Marlins these days, but cry me a freakin’ river, Buehrle and Barry. The Marlins may have sold you a bill of goods, but you bought, willingly, and knew full well that you didn’t have a no-trade clause and that the Marlins never gave them out when you signed the deal. While we would all like to live in a world where people treat each other better than we do, you know full well that you cannot count on anything in sophisticated business dealings that aren’t set forth in the contract.
I’m sure a lot of teams would love it if they could get more out of their contracts with players than that which is set forth in writing. Promises to do more things than they’re required. Agreements to not take a course of action that benefited the player first and not the team. If they did, the players would rightfully laugh them out of the negotiating room. To expect the teams to treat players any differently is silly.
