Madson still believes Phillies reneged on deal

This was originally posted on the Daily News' Phillies blog at www.philly.com/highcheese.

We'll probably never know for sure what, exactly, went down between the Phillies and Scott Boras this offseason. As you probably remember, longtime setup man Ryan Madson had been under the impression that Boras and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. were closing in on a deal worth $44 million over 4 years when the Phillies announced that they had signed Jonathan Papelbon to a 4-year, $50 million contract.

Boras believed that Amaro had verbally offered the deal, and Madson had decided to accept. But no offer was ever put into writing. Amaro, for his part, denies that the Phillies ever made an offer.

Now, Madson is in Cincinnati after having signed a 1-year, $8.5 million deal with the Reds. He will be a free agent again after this season. The veteran righthander recently told CBSSports.com that he still believes the two sides had a verbal agreement.

"I can't prove it. But I do believe it," Madson said. Boras has "been in the business for 20 years and it's never happened before."

Madson also said that he has moved on.

"I'm actually glad I'm here," he said. "It's been a nice change so far. I'm really not looking back. I wouldn't have changed it for the world. It is what it is. Everything happens for a reason. You can't make plans. Only one person can make plans."

And he does not appear at all distracted by what happened, or did not happen.

"There's a handful of theories," he said. "I never figured it out. But it became pretty obvious they wanted to go in a different direction. So I just moved on to see who else was interested. Thankfully, the Reds came into the picture."

- David Murphy