For those who have been hiding under a rock and haven't heard, . To my great surprise, the reaction to this news amongst the fans and media has generally been what I would characterize as mild. Mine was not.
I'm having a very hard time understanding what was running through the heads of the people in charge of this organization when they made this decision. Up until yesterday, the choices seemed straight forward. You either place the franchise tag for $15.7 million on Vernon and negotiate a long-term deal, using the aversion that every player feels for playing out another year and risking injury against him, or you let him hit free-agency.