Will Atlanta Braves be too cheap to extend Freddie Freeman?
By Seth Carter
Tuesday night the Atlanta Braves lost out on their bid for the star third baseman’s services as J.D. went to Minnesota. What now?
Former Atlanta Braves‘ third baseman, Josh Donaldson has signed a four-year $84 million deal with a team option for the fifth year. The buyout makes the deal worth a total of $92 million.
Many thought the Braves would have easily matched such an offer. Donaldson was supposedly giving the Braves a chance to match offers so he could return.
The Braves were the favorites to bring in the Bringer of Precipitation … right up until the news broke that he signed with the Twins.
We have to pick ourselves up, hold our heads high, call your children’s schools to make sure they have grief counselors set up. So, we have some things to do now.
I’m sure Anthopoulos has a plan. It’s a reasonable knee-jerk reaction to get upset with AA for not offering Donaldson a contract worth $92 million.
Perhaps he just didn’t see the value in a 34-year-old player that has spent two of the past three seasons injured.
Last year when AA gave him $23 million for one year, it wasn’t the most popular move.
What about Freeman?
Here’s where my concern kicks in. Freeman has two years left on his current contract. We all expect the Braves to extend him.
Freeman is working his way up the list of all-time Braves. Here’s where he stands in several categories:
7th all-time in WAR (position players)
25th all-time in AVG with a .293 career clip.
12th in OBP
10th in SLG
7th in home runs
5th in doubles
10th in RBI
7th in total bases
12th in games played
7th in walks
13th in runs scored
Freddie has stated his desire to be a Braves for the rest of his career, and avoid free agency as Chipper Jones did.
In an interview with Fox Sports South in January of 2018, Freeman said,
"“[Jones] never wanted to be a free agent. He was loyal and that rubs off on me. I want to be here forever. Hopefully, I can follow in his path. I don’t know if I’ll ever do what he did, but hopefully, I can be here for the rest of my career.”"
(h/t NBC Sports)
If both sides have expressed interest in locking him up then we should be good right?
The worry now is since the Braves passed on Donaldson at $21 million a year, how much are they willing to pay Freeman (currently making $22 million a year) to wear the Braves uniform well into his thirties?
In the most recent ‘755 is Real’ podcast, David O’Brien made the point that the Atlanta Braves front office does not want to have any contracts with dead money. That could be how they viewed the last two years of that Donaldson contract.
Would they have that same view of the last few years in a possible Freeman extension?
Freeman’s asking price should be high, he’s one of the best players in all of baseball. I hope passing on Donaldson was a very calculated risk. I trust the front office knows what it is doing. I trust that a part of that is locking Freddie Freeman up to a long-term contract.
Do you think the Braves will pay up for Freeman?