I think the Braves offer was 5/135, then the ultimatum was given to AA, then AA offered 5/140, then the hour passed, then AA moved on.
Sounds to me like the agent issued time limit, then was shocked someone took that time limit seriously and moved on after it passed.
He played hardball, got bit, then had to pivot to a worse offer from the Dodgers.
I will admit I personally find it really hard to believe that Close didn't INFORM Freddie about the 5/140 (or 5/135) offer at all. That's playing with the type of fire even Borass doesn't play with.
What I wonder is whether he told Freddie that he gave Alex an hour to - at least - increase the last offer he made and get back to him. Alex could have taken the 5/165 or 6/175 as an ultimatum and when the decision was made that they simply weren't going that far there was no need to call Close back. When Close didn't call at the end of the hour to say there was some flexibility in the numbers on Freddie's side AA just moved on to working the Olson trade out.
That would seem to make sense on all 3 fronts with the real problem being that AA and Close weren't on the same page...
1.) Alex thought he had to go to at least 5/165 because that was the deal on the table from someone else - he's not lying when he says that he was under the impression that the Braves' offer wasn't close.
2.) Close thought that Alex would call at the end of that hour and say "we're just not going there", and the phone never rang.
3.) Freddie's rightfully *issed because while he was informed about the 5/140 (or 5/135), Close never told him the level of chicken he was playing had advanced so far that Close was issuing deadlines and ultimatums.