Bob Garber doesn't have the cleanest track record

While I try to piece my mind back together after seeing Inception, let's focus on Roy's response.

First, Roy claims to not know what the heck is going on with his option for 2012:

"I don't handle that part of it."

I actually believe him here. I bet he doesn't know about what his agent - Bob Garber - is demanding right now. Because this wouldn't be Garber's first rodeo in this scenario.

Second, if we get back in the Wayback Machine, we can read about Garber's previous history, with pitcher Brian Boehringer. In this instance, at least, we read:

Coming off the 2002 season with Pittsburgh, Brian wanted to sign with St. Louis. He's from the area, wanted to live at home during the season and knew the Cardinals were always a competitive team. He instructed Bob to try to get a deal done.

Here's where it gets murky.

Mr. Garber told Brian the best he could get was an $850,000 deal with St. Louis. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh was the only other team that was interested, to the tune of 2 years and $3.5 million. Brian took his agent's word and signed with the Pirates. Today, Brian says the deal was best for Bob Garber, not him. The deal Brian signed earned the most money that Bob Garber could have gotten, so he pushed that one on Brian...

...He lost 2005 to injury, but felt great going into spring training, 2006. Brian asked his agent to call around and get him any deal possible. According to Brian, he didn't do it. How does Brian know? He said he personally called and was able to secure his own deal with the Cubs after a conversation with Dusty Baker. When he spoke with teams, they told him nobody had called them about Brian Boehringer.


Third, if you look at Roy's phrasing, it's eerily similar to the phrasing of another Bob Garber client, Russell Martin from 2008:
Early this offseason, his agent, Bob Garber, received a phone call from assistant general manager Kim Ng looking to discuss a possible multi-year contract extension for Martin, who won't turn 25 until next week. According to General Manager Ned Colletti, Garber declined, and no offer was ever extended.

"It's kind of a touchy thing," Martin said Tuesday at the Dodgers Community Caravan event at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. "I told (Garber) if it wasn't going to be a good offer not to even bother, so that's the conversation that they had...

...I know how it works. It just hasn't entered my mind yet because this is a dream I'm living. It still hasn't sunk in yet. That's the business side of baseball I don't really worry about. Whenever the time will be to discuss that, I'll be ready."

Way to stick with the party line, fellas. I'm sure this happens more often than we ever hear about. But I'm leaning towards believing Roy. I don't like him any more than I did this afternoon, but I believe him.