It was unheard of, leaving agents in the field without their orders, hanging on with hostages in tow and no idea of what was happening outside.

We freed up a lot of payroll in the winter by letting players leave as free agents.

We pulled back from the gate, leaving agents on the ground to sort out the mess.

That's what the Marlins have done the past month, trading away eight players and letting seven other key contributors leave as free agents.

Then, Allstate began cutting back on its support staff, leaving agents to take up the paperwork slack.

Castilla and Jeromy Burnitz, who led the team with 37 homers in 2004, were allowed to leave as free agents following the season.

The Yankees let players leave as free agents, as Oakland did with Dye, and pretended they had to make those moves because of some imaginary budget.

Their departures were unusual because St. Louis had had a recent history of retaining players who could leave as free agents.

Ms. Stinson has gotten black clients who left white agents, and has negotiated their biggest advances.

In the past the Expos have traded players or let them leave as free agents because they couldn't pay the salaries other teams were paying.