Report: Freddie Freeman's Future To Be Known "Within 48 Hours" After Lockout Ends

Following up a recent statement by ESPN's Buster Olney about Freddie Freeman's likely departure from Atlanta, Joel Sherman of The New York Post  is now reporting that Freeman's fate will be known extremely quickly once the lockout ends. Within 48 hours of a labor agreement, in fact. Sherman writes:

I have had plugged-in people tell me versions of 'the Braves don’t want to buy the declining years of Freeman and are happy to move on' and versions of 'Freeman is furious that he was not enough of a priority/asset to settle this before the Dec. 2 lockout.' Is any of that accurate? The sense is that within 48 hours of a labor agreement, Freeman’s path will be publicly known and that he will not dawdle in the marketplace.

This jibes with a recent report by Ken Rosenthal that both Freeman and the Braves will be racing against the clock as soon as the lockout ends, to strike first before they lose leverage. If Freeman signs a deal elsewhere first, the Braves will be seen as more desperate to bring in another first baseman; if the Braves trade for, say Matt Olson or another 1B, Freeman loses a bit of negotiating power with his incumbent team off the board. 

"60%" odds Freeman signs elsewhere

One agent told Sherman that the odds of Freeman leaving Atlanta have skyrocketed. “I think this has gone from 5% that he leaves to 60%."

Olney this week also suggested that there is a "growing belief" that Freeman departs the World Series champs. 

The Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are the most talked-about teams at the front of the line to nab the Braves' legend, while the New York Mets have been noted as a possible new entry as well.

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