I think Andruw was afraid he'd somehow break Omar's hip

 

Yeah, he didn't want Omar to come up even more lame.

And I'm pretty sure union rules didn't allow it.

 

What union? The sports agents' union?

 

A player is not required to go through an agent in order to contact a team. A player is not required to have an agent. Teams and players are not barred from negotiating in the absence of an agent

 

 

It is against union rules for a team to attempt to bar a player's agent from negotiations. If the Sox tried to negotiate an extension with Jones and said, "we'll only talk if you keep your agent out of this," that would be against the rules.