Apparently, the Ryan-Dempster-to-the-Braves deal was supposed to happen Monday. At least, that’s what these Jerry Crasnick tweets suggest:
Sources say Ryan Dempster had given preliminary indications that he would accept a trade to the #braves from #cubs
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) July 24, 2012
But when trade leaked out in media Monday before #cubs informed him, Dempster was not happy. Felt blindsided, said a source.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) July 24, 2012
Well, I suppose you can understand that a player would want to actually officially sign off on a deal he has the right (via 10/5 rights) to veto or approve, before he hears about it from a zillion tweets.
Cubs manager Dale Sveum wasn’t happy about this either:
Dempster, manager Dale Sveum and assistant GM Randy Bush all denied the deal, which was originally confirmed by the Braves’ website and repeated on several other outlets.
“We all know it didn’t happen,” Sveum said. “Why it ever got out there, something that big on a player … and for somebody to report it happened, it’s very unprofessional to do anything like that in that kind of situation.”
Since the proverbial cat’s out of the bag, this deal is likely going to get done. Dempster is scheduled to start against the Pirates Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh, so something could well happen Tuesday.
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