In the six days since the lockout, the likeliest landing spots for Freddie Freeman have appeared to be the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.
The Braves went off the list when they swung a blockbuster trade for Matt Olson and promptly gave him a contract extension.
But as that was happening, the market for Freeman started growing well beyond just the Dodgers, with the San Diego Padres and basically every team in the American League East (minus, of course, the Orioles) expressing some level of interest.
It might very well be posturing from Freeman’s camp in an effort to drive the price up. MLB Network insider Jon Morosi explained Tuesday on 92.9 The Game’s “Dukes and Bell” why the Freeman market suddenly expanded.
"I am surprised," Morosi said. "Certainly I thought that it would have been the Braves or the Dodgers, those are the two teams I was hearing most often at that point in time. I do think as well that the overall mix of teams that are interested in Freeman now have gotten greater in the last couple days. You’ve heard the Padres involved, the Blue Jays involved, the Rays somewhat surprisingly, I even had someone mention to me they thought the Yankees might still find a way to get involved even after bringing in (Isiah) Kiner-Falefa and (Josh) Donaldson to play the left side of the infield there in New York.
"What it tells me right now, candidly, is I think the Dodgers are probably the team Freeman would like to go to, but until he gets the years and dollars he’s looking for, I think he wants to wait and play this thing out and see if someone else is really going to overwhelm him. I think he might have been a little surprised that the Braves had moved on before he made his decision, but I think after all those months and really years, both sides knew where the comfort was on either side and they just couldn’t come together.
"I would suspect the Dodgers probably have a multi-year offer out there to him that’s just not as great as he’s looking for and until he gets that he's going to wait. And he might eventually have to decide between a lower offer where he wants to go, which is probably the Dodgers, or a higher offer from some other team."
The fact that some of the teams being named have legitimate options at first base suggests Freeman’s agent might be trying to up the price. The Red Sox, for example, have what’s believed to be the second coming of Freeman in Triston Casas knocking on the door to the big leagues.
Either way, it sounds like Freeman has little intention of taking a deal less than he believes he’s worth.
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