Flanagan's article today

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jeffrey_flanagan/story/485608.html

Emil's deal
Seeing that Mike Sweeney signed with the A's brought to mind the A's signing of Emil Brown, a deal that pretty much slid under the radar last month.
Brown signed for $1.45 million for one year, a far cry from the $3.45 million he made with the Royals last season. Believe it or not, I used to get into arguments with the few Emil Brown fans out there who insisted that if the Royals didn't re-sign Brown, he'd certainly land a "major" deal with another team.
And by major deal, these e-mailers were sure that Brown would go for $7 million or $8 million a year on the open market. Hmmm. Haven't heard from them in a while.