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Have Questions About the Braves’ Off-Season? You Weren’t the Only One.

By Alan Carpenter

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You’ll have to pardon Freddie Freeman if he wasn’t entirely paying attention to the Braves’ off-season moves and direction.  On November 22nd, he got married (to her >>>) and then took off for two weeks on the other side of the planet.  You could say that he might have been a little distracted with those events taking place.

Of course, by then he already knew that buddy and former roomie Jason Heyward was already a member of the Cardinals.  That was not going to be a surprise.

But when the newlyweds got back from Australia and New Zealand – just about as far away from Atlanta as you can get – I can imagine that Freddie might have started to squirm a bit more.

But it was the next one – coming on January 14th – that finally made Freddie get up and start asking his own questions:

It’s a Reasonable Question

Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) waits. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Freddie is committed… I don’t mean by marriage… I mean the contract extension he signed with the Braves for $127 million that runs through 2021.  For the next seven seasons, he’s a member of the Atlanta Braves.

Given that he’s now the lone, true remaining offensive threat as well, he’s probably feeling a bit like the school kid looking forward to a great field trip who had to stay in class that day because he forgot to get the permission slip signed.

Given that, he had the right to ask a couple of questions.  To their credit, the Braves’ brass welcomed him in to answer them.

Wouldn’t we all like to have been the fly on the wall listening in on that conversation?

Dave O’Brien had some of telling quotes from the principals involved:

"“During the winter, (if you’re Freeman) you go, ‘What’s going on? I signed up to play and hang pennants on the rafters or the wall and we just came off winning the division?’” Gonzalez said. “But we explained everything to him.”"

The words “stunned”, “shaken”, and “apprehensive” were also used in that story in various descriptions of his mood.

The words I do not see are “angry”, “annoyed”, or “bitter”.

That despite the biggest personal blow being the loss of Heyward.  The pair were drafted together, moved up through the minors together, and formed a strong bond of friendship in doing so.  But to his credit, while Freeman called that a “tough day” when Jason was traded, he’s not brooding about it, either.

Back on Board

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Apparently, the meeting worked for all involved… or at least Freddie has chosen to speak the “party line” to the media when discussing the changes.

There’s a new adjective that O’Brien used for Freeman

:  “

energized

“.

On Monday, Freddie was speaking positively about the construction of the lineup for 2015 – specifically invoking the name of Nick Markakis as a guy who can get things started at the top of the lineup.  He mentioned the “fresh approach” to hitting – expecting a more aggressive base running focus, as well (note to new 3rd base coach Bo Porter: – your 1st baseman might be considered ‘nimble’, but certainly not “fleet afoot”).

Freeman also echoed some of the expectations we’ve had here:  that if the rotation can pitch up to their capabilities, then “all we’ve got to do is score like three or four runs.” (O’Brien)

That’s probably true.  Hopefully these new Braves – a team that Freeman likens to the Royals of 2014 – can scratch out that kind of run production… for until the rest of the lineup starts getting on base and moving runners along on a consistent basis, Freddie Freeman himself will see a ton of pitches outside the strike zone.

At least he’s got a whole new bunch of folks to hug this year.

Next: So What's in a Name Anyway?

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