Rosenthal: Braves At Serious Risk Of Losing Freddie Freeman

 

While baseball's big thinkers are worrying about collective bargaining to get the sport back on the field in time for the season, Freddie Freeman is seriously weighing his free agency options. That's according to the ultimate baseball insider, Ken Rosenthal. 

"Our longstanding assumption — ah, they’ll just work it out — no longer applies," writes Rosenthal in The Athletic. And if that doesn't scare Atlanta Braves fans, I don't know what will. "The Braves and Freeman didn’t work it out last spring, last summer or in November with the lockout looming," he continued. "Rest assured, both sides are weighing their options."

What he's specifically suggesting, is that Freeman and the Braves will be racing against the clock as soon as the lockout ends, to act fast. Whether it be Freeman accepting the sort of offer he's looking for from another team, or the Braves making a trade for a first base replacement. Either move would put a serious dent in the options of the other. 

If the Braves act first, trading for another 1B (sources say they had discussions about Matt Olson with the Oakland A's before the lockout), that takes some leverage away from Freeman in his free agency. If the Atlanta legend acts first and signs elsewhere... well, the ramifications, trade leverage, and devastation for the Braves are obvious.

"The immediate post-lockout world will be frenzied, leaving little time for deliberations, forcing teams to accelerate decisions," says Rosenthal. "Under the compressed calendar heading into spring training, markets will open and close in a blink.

"The Atlanta ownership has played a dangerous game, one that might now backfire."

Photo Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports