The Braves were somewhat surprisingly connected to Carlos Correa prior to the lockout, and the two sides did re-engage to some extent before Correa signed with the Twins, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Atlanta didn’t make Correa an offer. It was actually agent Scott Boras who reached out to the Braves as he was gauging the market for his client, and Rosenthal writes that Boras “floated” the same three-year, $105.3MM deal with two opt-outs that Correa eventually signed with Minnesota.
While nothing came of these negotiations, Rosenthal does wonder if Correa (assuming he opts out) might be a target for the Braves next winter, as incumbent shortstop Dansby Swanson will be a free agent. Signing Correa to a long-term deal would surely require Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos to make his biggest expenditure yet, though the Braves will have quite a bit of money coming off the books in the form of Swanson, Kenley Jansen, and depending on club options, Charlie Morton and Will Smith.
More from around the league…
- The Giants and Astros were the other finalists for Trevor Story’s services, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link). Expanding on San Francisco’s interest, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic writes that the Giants “did recruit him quite a bit,” even if “a few of their people always felt [Story] was headed for Boston.” Among other suitors, The Athletic’s Dan Hayes writes that the Twins discussed multiple contract scenarios with Story but the team’s preference seemed to be a pricey but shorter-term contract, like Minnesota’s eventual three-year, $105.3MM deal with Carlos Correa.
- The Tigers were known to be looking at all of the “big six” free agent shortstops, and signed Javier Baez to a six-year, $140MM deal prior to the lockout. There wasn’t much known about the Tigers’ negotiations with Story, though Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press reports that “Story wasn’t interested in the Tigers’ proposed contract structure.” This is an interesting wrinkle considering that Story also got six years and $140MM from the Red Sox, though Baez’s salary is a bit backloaded and he can opt out of the deal following the 2023 season. Story’s deal also has an opt-out decision but not until after the 2025 season, plus the Sox can overwrite Story’s opt-out by exercising a club option for a seventh year.
- In other Tigers news, GM Al Avila told Petzold and other reporters that the club is “done” their major offseason shopping after signing Michael Pineda for the back of the rotation. Detroit had one of the more aggressive and active winters of any club, and Avila and his front office also explored many other options besides the players they did acquire via trades and free agent deals. In regards to the Pineda contract, for instance, the Tigers looked at several other available veterans who ended up signing elsewhere, and Petzold adds that Detroit also considered Johnny Cueto. Last month, MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored Cueto’s free agent case, arguing that the 36-year-old was still a pretty decent option for teams looking for relatively inexpensive rotation depth.
“Big six”? Who was the sixth?
Correa, Story, Seager, Baez, and Semien are only five. I would hope none of Freddy Galvis, Andrelton Simmons, or Jose Iglesias counted in this scenario
I can also only think of 5. I don’t think there were 6 big shortstops.
I came across this interview with Chipper Jones the other day about how Freddie Freeman didn’t really want to go to the Dodgers and how it happened, if anyone is interested. This is the 2nd interview Chipper has done like this. He did a similar interview with Buster Olney but that one is behind a paywall. This one is free from a radio show if anyone is interested. It’s a great interview:
omny.fm/shows/chuck-and-chernoff/hall-of-famer-chi…
I took that conversation as FF wasn’t close enough to the dialogue to know exactly what was going on regarding the Braves. In my opinion, his agent thought he had the Dodgers over a barrel then the Braves pivoted after the ultimatum.
It definitely seemed like Freeman did not know what his agents were doing. How was Freddie “shocked about the Matt Olson trade” when it came days after his reps offered AA an ultimatum and AA rejected both of them and then rescinded his $140 million offer. Freeman’s reps made sure that the writing was on the wall that Saturday so it makes no sense for Freeman to be “shocked and blindsided” the following Tuesday. What do they think turning down an ultimatum and rescinding an offer is supposed to mean? They must’ve just felt like they screwed up and didn’t tell Freeman what happened.
Will be interesting to see how the negotiations go between the same agency and Swanson. Seems their MO is playing loyalty against teams that are trying to do the same thing
It does, doesn’t it? I don’t know much about that agency but I remember hearing a lot about how much “Freeman wanted to stay with the Braves” and how he would likely “Give the Braves a home town discount” of some sort. It turns out that Freddie Freeman’s agents gave the Braves an ultimatum that would have forced the Braves to pay more than any other team on the market just to keep Freeman. From a financial perspective, Freeman’s agents treated the Braves as if they were the last team in the league he wanted to play for. Why else would they make the Braves pay more money than anyone else was willing to? According to Chipper, there was some serious disconnect between what Freeman personally wanted and how his agents treated that on the open market. It seems like Freeman’s agents did the exact opposite of what Freeman really wanted. If you have 1 particular team you prefer to play for, you don’t express that by telling them they have to pay you more than any other team to make you be willing to play for them.
Hopefully the Braves don’t make an effort to sign Swanson after this year. He’s already being overpaid for this season.
Here is actually another video of a YouTube content creator named BallCap Sports talking about the same Freddie Freeman wanting to stay with the Braves and his agents kind of screwing him over thing:
youtube.com/watch?v=qtqRnBbrrUk
Jon Heyman on Twitter:
There are about $57M in deferrals to be paid out from 2028 to 2040 in Freeman’s Dodgers contract, making it worth about $140M over 6 years
@feinsand
1st reported
The Braves offer was better at $140M over 5 years than the actual value of the Dodgers of $140M over 6 years
Freeman camp did propose two deals to the Braves late — $165M for 5 years and $175M for 6 — via sources, but he ultimately signed for $162M for 6 in LA.
@Buster_ESPN
also reported those figures.
Freeman definitely wanted to go to the Braves. Why did his agents demand his preferred team needed to pay $165M for 5 years while his less preferred team only had to pay actual value of $140M for 6 years? That’s a complete failure of representation by the agents. I would never use that agency for anything. Their motto might as well be “We will get you less money and make sure you don’t get to play for the team you want to play for.” I actually feel bad for Freeman. It seems he trusted those around him more than he trusted himself. It also seems his agents weren’t honest with him. If he was “shocked and blindsided by the Matt Olson trade” as he says, then his agents lied to him about what they had done because they didn’t want to tell him they overplayed his hand and screwed up.
I do believe Freeman when he says that, btw. I don’t think he is the person lying. It has to be his agents lying to him to cover up their obvious blunders.
Ballcap sports is legit. Him and Robbie Hyde have some underrated content that isn’t biased.
Jim does fine work, but I think he might have got some of it a little wrong in this one. The deferrals in the Dodgers contract become automatic if Freeman is traded. ie he doesn’t lose the cash, he loses the deferral of the cash.
Chipper makes a lot of sense. Solid sounding guy. The offer the agent made to the Braves sounded ridiculous. No wonder they moved on with Olsen.
Agreed. They do good work. Knowledgeable guys pulling stuff together and giving a clean opinion.
The other thing that isn’t talked about enough is the fact that as a “10 and 5 player” Freddie Freeman had an automatic full no-trade clause built into his contract just by staying with the Braves. He doesn’t have that anymore. He ended up leaving the team he wanted to stay with, getting less money (actual value of $140M over 5 years is more than actual value of $140M over 6 years) and he lost his no-trade clause. I personally think the Braves are better off with the 5 year younger Olson but from Freeman’s perspective, this really sucks. I hope the Braves fans don’t boo him when he shows up for Dodger games. They should feel bad for him. The only thing Braves fans should have a gripe about is Freeman picking such terrible agents. Freeman paid a bigger price for that than anyone, though. The Braves fans actually got better as a result of saving money with Olson. Freeman was going to cost the Braves a lot more next season than Olson so they might not have been able to sign Rosario, Jansen and McHugh with Freeman’s $28 million salary on the books. It just sucks for Freeman.
This might be the biggest decision Freeman ever had to make. If he just sat back and let his agents free-lance, then this is on him. I look at all the numbers buying a car, having a house repair, ordering breakfast etc. I can’t even process the idea that he is signing the last big deal of his life, and has no clue what is going on.
I have no sympathy. To paraphrase Casino, ‘ you’re too frackin’ dumb to keep this job, if you did know, you were in on it. Either way, YOU’RE OUT!”
@Steve Nebraska
Freeman’s agents are probably Dodgers fans, that would not surprise me in the least.
Zero chance Freddie is booed in his ATL homecoming. He’ll forever be loved by this fan base, regardless of who he’s playing for. Shades of Albert’s return to St Louis.
@Steve Nebraska
Thanks for posting that interview with legend Chipper. It is a magnificent interview, because you know you won’t get any BS with Chipper.
I think too many excuses are being made for Freddie.
Freddie should have made it his business to know what was going on every hour or minute. He had all of the lockout to think about what he wanted to do. If he wanted to be a Brave then all he had to do was use a pen. There are NO excuses, it WAS HIS business.
If he relied on other people then it is E3 E3 E3 for 6 years. I love Freddie, but sorry, he can’t make excuses.
He should fire his agent,
He has the same agent ss Kershaw.
In what way? He is making $10M which is pretty fair value. Spotrac has his value at just under $15M. That seems a bit much but $11-$12M is generally fair for a solid SS.
I hate it, but it seems Freeman made a poor choice in regards to this. If he did in fact want to stay in Atlanta, then he should have made that known before the lockout and signed.
Or, if he wants to gauge the interest in FA and let Atlanta see what his value is – he had plenty of chances to determine that and sign with Atlanta.
I’d fire his agents.
But, it’s all aboard the Olson train now. I’m excited to see what he can do.
Probably counting Lindor.
I could see how someone might say that back in 2020. This is 2022 though. The article says: “The Tigers were known to be looking at all of the “big six” free agent shortstops.”
When were the Tigers “looking at” Lindor? And what would that even mean? It doesn’t really count if they are “looking at” someone who isn’t and never was a free agent, right? I mean… Lindor was never a “free agent.” So how can he be one “of the big six free agent shortstops?” Not to be nitpicky but referring Lindor as a “free agent” in any capacity would just be incorrect. They would have to say “potential free agent shortstops back in 2020.” My guess is he just accidentally typed six instead of five. It’s easy to be off by one when there are so many free agent shortstops in one offseason.
Chris Taylor I think
Lindor.
It was Chris Taylor.
Crawford?
I think it was big 6 when Lindor wasn’t signed (he would have been a FA this year)
Probably Taylor.
Seems Story wanted to stay with a team, while the Tigers are hoping for someone that would do well for two years and then leave. It will be interesting to see which of these two will end up the better buy.
Baez, like all new high end contracts, have player protection opt outs. If Baez likes Detroit, he will stay but with the CC AAV 35 million, and Bogarts opting out next year, Baez will probably opt out and either resign or sign with another team for more money. The opt outs are great for players protection to get the money if the falter or opt out if they do really well. It’s the new normal.
That’s if Bogaerts opts out before some kind of extension between him and the Sox is worked out with the Story deal in the books and to me? the only real fair market value SS deal done from Lindor on, the others were serious overpays.
the.new normal?
If you mean;
GMs who get their butts handed to them in contract negotiations (Al Avila) or
“Sport professionals”, who don’t know their butts from a whole in ground, who got their jobs because they are part of the “club” and know somebody (SM) – guys who DON’T DESERVE the jobs they have but have buddies (99%of.the league scouts) or
Owners who don’t know squat (Chris Illich),….
Then yeah…I guess you’re right.
Its the.new.normal
STINKS
Tigers have a few SS’s who will be about ready by then.
I wouldn’t mind the Braves taking a flyer on Cueto, at a low base with lots of incentives.
He would make sense for them. Morton, Fried and Anderson are the only proven starters on their team. It might even makes sense for them to sign both Cueto and someone like Chris Archer. The big question is: Who is going to pony up for Michael Conforto with that draft compensation attached? Anyone?
Agreed Steve. I was also thinking maybe Carlos Martinez with fingers crossed. But I’m a glutton for punishment.
Martinez already signed Minor League deal with the Giants.
Oh, I did not see that. Good looking out.
I started Carlos Martniez in a 20-team fantasy league for one game last season. He scored me something like -35 points. I didn’t even know that was possible. That sad thing is I was desperate trying to come back from a deficit and I would have won the matchup had I just started no one instead of him. I’m not one of those people who thinks someone has to be a great fantasy player to be a great real baseball player or anything. -35 points is pretty hard to overlook, though. That’s not just bad. It’s a special kind of bad. I think he gave up 10 or 11 earned runs without recording a single out. If I were a GM, I would shy away from making anything more than the minimum minor league contract commitment for any player who has the propensity to ever be that bad. It wasn’t just once, either. Martinez was bad a lot last season as well as years before.
Out of curiosity: Has anyone that plays fantasy baseball EVER had ANY player score less than -30 points in one single game? It was definitely a first for me so I have no clue how rare or common it is.
I don’t think I can recall ever having more than -1 or -2.
LOL @ -35 tho. Ouch.
No and no thank you.
I don’t think the Tigers are hoping Baez will do good for 2 years and book. I believe that their thinking is by that time that he can opt out, we most likely will have several options available to take over at SS. They’ll have a kid named Christian Santana who will be ready by then and looks FANTASTIC thus far in ST, not to mention last year’s 1st rounder Isaac Pacheco and also Ryan Kreidler. So they will for sure have multiple options ready by then. But who knows, maybe Baez will love what he has in the D, and stay through out. But that’s a big if, because if he’s killing it and the team is winning, he’ll want more $$$.
Al Avila toally struck out. Chris Illich does not invest in the future of this team, hoping to eek into the playoffs before Als’ little contract runs out…
THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING SINCE 2015!
That’s a long time, sorry.
It is a fact: Al Avila has not done a good job and is not doing a good job.
Chris Illich doesn’t really give a hoot, hes happy with the status quo.
Im a fan. And I DEFINITELY NOT!
It’s what they are NOT DOING that tells the story.
Luciano, Abrams….. aggressively actively trying get better players. Obviously, Al does NOT have good eye. How did that “diamond in the rough”, stuff work out?
McHugh and Tepera both signed for less than Chacin. That’s 2 trade chips not being used, hoping Lange and Jimenez right ship.
No one signed as a teade chip- EVER.
NOT ONCE did they trade.for.a.top prospect, fill another teams needs or evenn show and indication they.are aware of what else is going on around MLB.
Al Avila WANTS TO BE A SPANISH LORD. THAT IS NO WAY TO RUN AN AMERICAN BASEBALL TEAM.
Braves don’t need to spend 30+ million a year on the most overrated player in baseball
Bryce Harper is not making $30+
He didn’t say he was.. and you don’t watch much baseball if you don’t believe Bryce Harper is one of the best players in baseball.
Mark my words. Correa won’t be a Brave as long as AA is our GM. If they don’t resign Dansby, they’ll give Shoemake a shot next year
If Freeman really didn’t want to leave Atlanta he wouldn’t have insisted on the 6th year when the Braves were adamant that they were not going to give it to him
they need to resign Swanson I don’t know why everybody’s against him I mean he did hit 27 home runs and he plays damn good shortstop
he’s one of the hardest working players on the team, and he’s got great hair to boot. Also a Braves lifer and would cost less than correra and younger(?)
coreais overrated
back in August the braves made a 5-year $135 million offer to Freeman before the lockout they offered $145 million for 5 years he turned it down then came to ultimatum then that’s when Atlanta went after Olson
either chipper or Freeman is lying Tampa Bay offered 6 years 155 million and he turned it down and so did Toronto offer six years and 160 with no deferrals
Where are you getting your numbers? Do you have a source? I heard the Braves never offered more than 140 and the Rays offered 150 over 6 years tops. I heard the Rays actually only offered 140 over 6 years. I never heard any figure on the Blue Jays so I would be surprised to find out they “offered six years and 160 with no deferrals.” That would easily be better than the Dodgers offer. I’m not saying your lying or anything. I would just love to read the source because I haven’t seen anything like that.
I heard the only official offers were Braves, Rays and Dodgers. That the Braves top offer was $140M/5 years and the Rays top offer was $140-150M/6years. I have never heard anything about the Blue Jays even coming close to making any kind of financial offer. I would love to read about it though if you can post a source.
if Freeman didn’t want to go to the dodgers, he could have signed with Tampa Bay or Toronto it’s all about the money to him. Tampa Bay and Toronto offered about the same thing. I’m sure if Freeman didn’t decline that much in year five, the braves were giving him one or two more years, but he wanted that 6 years right off the bat. I’ve been a braves fan since 1968, and people will boo him when he comes back to Atlanta.
can’t wait for Jensen to strike him out in the playoffs
we are trading for Rizzo at the deadline for that
Im sorry, I don’t intend to.hurt people’s feelings but carp!
Isn’t it a no brainier to sign 3-4 guys as trade chips, lump them together, send them all to a team that needs a push? In exchange for a top prospect?
Since 2015, that’s a lot more top prospects and is a heck of a lot more.fun to watch, better for the fans, better for.the team, better for the players, better for MLB . THAN TANKING!
That’s what I call investing in the team , not hiring a bunch of buddies to act like they are doing something looking at spin rates…..
You would think so. But who knows, maybe ownership is micro managing and put a hard cap on spending. I agree with you, Al’s trade deals have been vastly underwhelming.
But, I think the fact that they upgraded immensely at SS and got 2 competent SP’s (while sitting under .500) is promising. I didn’t think Illitch was into the big money moves, like Baez and E Rodriguez.
It will surely be interesting where DET sits at the trade deadline. I personally like what Avila has done these last 2 years. I just hope they leave the farm intact.
Wow. Three comments on the content of the article. This forum struggles to stay focused.
You’re right!
So FEW of these readers have any comprehension whatsoever. No reading comprehension and no grasp on reality. They are ALL TOO DRUNK of the Kool Aid Al has been selling.
If they had read the article it might as well be titled, “Tigers GM Continues to Stink and has No Intention of Building a Winner.”
….we sold enough kool aid. We’re done.