ATLANTA — It’s easy to say, “Give Freddie Freeman what he wants.” He has been the Braves’ second-best position player of the 21st century. (The best became a first-ballot Hall of Famer.) Freeman just helped deliver a giddy-beyond-belief World Series triumph. Nobody has an unkind word to say about the man. Would it be wrong for Alex Anthopoulos to offer a blank check and say, “Fill in the amount”?
We’re about to enter the third month of MLB’s lockout. Teams cannot conduct business. Teams have been ordered to say nothing. This doesn’t mean some in the back of the classroom won’t pass messages when the commissioner’s not looking. Buster Olney of ESPN reported this week: “There is a growing belief that Freeman will land somewhere outside of Atlanta.” That presumably means outside of Cobb County as well.
Because Freeman is among the biggest remaining free agents and because the Braves just won the World Series, he’s the subject of much speculation. This doesn’t mean anything has changed since midnight Dec. 2, the moment the lockout was imposed. Nothing CAN change.
