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Hello, you. It’s late in the calendar, it gets dark way too early, and there’s no more baseball to be played. Mega-sigh. So, on this Tuesday afternoon, as well as maybe-everyday-but-mostly-when-we-feel-like-it, kick back, relax, and read up on some rumors.
The biggest offseason mishigas the Braves need to engage in this winter is attempting to re-sign Freddie Freeman. He’s officially a free agent now, and most other roster construction dominoes for Alex Anthopoulos and the rest of the Front Office are at least somewhat dependent on how the negotiations with Freeman’s camp go. What are the chances that the Braves are able to retain Freeman? No one really knows, but Chipper Jones, the man who rescued Freeman from that ice storm on an ATV himself, guesstimated the chance that Freeman departs at “10 to 20 percent” on a call with Jayson Stark of The Athletic. Check it out:
Freddie Freeman is entering free agency. Is there any chance he leaves Atlanta?@jaysonst asked @RealCJ10 what he thinks.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) November 9, 2021
"I would say somewhere between 10 and 20 percent (chance) that he's playing somewhere else." pic.twitter.com/KTozXBGJ1z
If you buy into Chipper’s prognostication, that’s right around the leaguewide OBP (.147) for pitchers in a year that might be the last for that phenomenon. It’s low enough that you feel pretty good it isn’t going to happen, but not so low that it would be particularly weird. Things with a 15 percent chance happen 15 percent of the time, after all.
Other rumors on what was hopefully a beautiful autumn Tuesday for you:
- Justin Verlander held a showcase with 15 to 20 teams in attendance, as relayed by Joel Sherman’s Twitter. Verlander didn’t pitch at all this season and made just one appearance in 2020, but the 38-year-old has had an insanely-good career and was throwing up 6+ fWAR seasons at age 35-36. Whether he can come back from Tommy John Surgery at his age is an open question, but the upside is immense.
- The Mets’ search for a Front Office leader has been a source of comedy in recent weeks, as they’ve been turned down by basically everyone and then some. Sherman also tweets that the Mets are now focused on former Nats staffer Adam Cromie. Cromie hasn’t actually been in a Front Office for over half a decade now, but when the pickings are slim, well... I don’t know, the AristoMets!
That’s about it for today, but stay tuned!