Freddie Freeman's Former Agent Is Suing Doug Gottlieb For Libel Over Report He Withheld Final Braves Offer From Freeman

ESPN — Agent Casey Close sued Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb for libel Thursday, alleging that Gottlieb "falsely and recklessly" defamed Close and Excel Sports Management in a tweet that claimed they had not presented a contract offer to star first basemen Freddie Freeman during free agency, according to a complaint filed in a New York court.

The lawsuit details Close's negotiations with the Atlanta Braves, the team with which Freeman had spent his career before signing a six-year, $162 million free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in March. On June 29, Gottlieb tweeted: "Casey Close never told Freddie Freeman about the Braves (sic) final offer, that is why Freeman fired him" -- an allegation the complaint says is false and has prompted death threats toward Close and tens of millions of dollars in damages to Close and Excel.

In a statement, Close said: "Although we gave Mr. Gottlieb an opportunity to retract his false statement, he failed to do so. The Complaint sets the record straight as to what occurred during the negotiations with the Atlanta Braves."

If you thought the Freddie Freeman/Casey Close/Braves/Dodgers saga was over, not so fast. After Doug Gottlieb sent a tweet last month claiming Freeman's former agent Casey Close withheld a final contract offer from the Braves from Freeman, Close is now suing Gottlieb for libel.

This story has taken all sorts of twists and turns and you can really talk yourself into either side of it making sense. On the one hand, Close risking his entire professional reputation to hide an offer from Freeman doesn't exactly square. He doesn't really stand to gain anything from that, other than maybe a few extra thousand dollars and the potential consequences of doing something like that far outweigh that benefit.

Conversely, something seemingly happened in Atlanta for Freeman to fire Close immediately after the Dodgers left town. If Freeman was mad about how things played out since last winter, why wait until June to fire his agent? This whole ordeal has been weird.

But if you had Freddie Freeman's free agency ending with his now-fired agent suing Doug Gottlieb on your MLB bingo card, come collect your winnings.