What’s going on with the Dodgers and Freddie Freeman?
UPDATE: What’s going on, eh? Dodgers, Freddie Freeman reportedly finalizing six-year deal:
Los Angeles Dodgers fans have waited over three months for the team to strike big in free agency, and almost 48 full hours after the lockout … we’ve got nothing.
Well not nothing, but no signings or trades. Just speculation, rumors and a reported contract offer to Freddie Freeman. That apparently happened on Friday night, but Freeman’s yet to make a decision, and fans are stuck in limbo.
Are the New York Yankees still involved here? What’s going on with the Atlanta Braves in their effort to retain their captain? Is there another team popping in to further cloud the situation?
Because we’ve heard a whole lot from Max Muncy and manager Dave Roberts about how they’d love to have Freeman on the Dodgers! A little extra marketing can’t hurt for the Southern California native, who might be weighing his options and deciding if leaving the organization he’s spent his entire career with is really what he wants to do.
Dodgers Rumors: What’s going on with Freddie Freeman?
So what does this mean?! Is the Dodgers’ offer right now the strongest? And Freeman is waiting for the Braves to respond? Or for the Yankees to go higher? Are the Braves making sure Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson will be available in a trade before letting Freeman walk?
Then we had the latest update from MLB insider Jon Heyman, who said the Dodgers “at the least have emerged as a very viable alternative” for Freeman. Wasn’t this always the case?! They’re arguably going to be the World Series favorites and can form one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball should Freeman take over at first base and Max Muncy moves to second base.
And if the Braves are “fine” with potentially getting Olson, how has Freeman not made a decision yet? That makes us believe the Yankees or another big market team could be involved here … or at least Freeman is waiting for that to happen.
But then here comes MLB insider Jim Bowden saying the Braves are “making every effort” to retain Freeman with various contract offers. Could Freeman be waiting for a Braves counter, and if he doesn’t like that (or it’s clear they’re not willing to go further) will he defect to LA?
It seems the Dodgers could be hedging their bets with Nelson Cruz, too. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Dodgers are pursuing both Cruz and Freeman simultaneously with the expectation they can “afford both” and get them ample time together in the lineup thanks to the Universal DH.
It’s a lot, we know. But, at the moment, this is where the Dodgers and Freeman stand (in addition to some other outside factors). Keep your head on a swivel, though, because we could get a solution to this in the next few hours.