I'm not sure it's clear exactly what happened. Close and Excel Sports have flatly denied Gottlieb's take, which could likely just be damage control. It appears that Close is trying to split hairs that the offer wasn't "firm" and wasn't treated the same way as a firm offer would be. Freddy wanted to stay with the Braves and it, looks like they may have had numbers he would have accepted, but Casey Close didn't clearly represent the situation for whatever reason. The fact that Freeman fired Close and is still not committal on his relationship with Excel Sports indicates a clearly unhappy client that thinks his interests weren't the primary focus of his agent. Surprise, Surprise.