DUNEDIN, Fla. — Carlos Baerga and his trusty flame graphic are it again, raising the hopes of Toronto Blue Jays fans with another Instagram post suggesting Freddie Freeman is heading north.
Truth? Conjecture? An overreach? Perhaps even a mix of all three?
Maybe, maybe, maybe and maybe, but clearly Freeman’s fascinating free agency is nearing a conclusion. Atlanta’s acquisition of first baseman Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics is the type of deal general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos wouldn’t have made without first knowing his incumbent star is heading elsewhere.
The Blue Jays, according to an industry source, have been poking around on Freeman all off-season and some of their players have discussed how well he’d fit among them. The club’s also been hot on the trail of another free-agent lefty slugger, Kyle Schwarber, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported Sunday night, and they’ve been ambitious enough to consider the possibility of adding both, although other moves would be needed to make it work.
As teams clear through a winter-frenzy level transaction logjam created by the lockout, the Blue Jays have been busily weighing a host of different opportunities available to them. The $36-million, three-year deal for left-hander Yusei Kikcuhi completed Monday was a beginning rather than end, as they weigh relief options as up-market as Kenley Jansen, infield possibilities such as Jonathan Villar and moves far more transformative.
“They’ve got a lot going,” said another industry source.
The Blue Jays did plenty of work on trades before the lockout and many of the blockbusters completed in recent days are no doubt the by-product of talks that date back to before the shutdown.
While to this point they’ve focused on free agency, the Blue Jays have the prospect depth to get in on the sell-offs currently being conducted by the Athletics (the only thing keeping third baseman Matt Chapman from being perfect is that he bats right-handed) and Cincinnati Reds (if they’re willing to live with redundancy at first base for Freeman, why not rescue Joey Votto if taking his money helps land Luis Castillo or Tyler Mahle?).
They have surely tried again to pry Jose Ramirez from the Cleveland Guardians, as they did last trade deadline, although that may very well require big-league pieces.
Ultimately, it comes down to which slate of moves they can pull off.
Freeman, of course, would only cost money and while he’s an awkward fit positionally — Vladimir Guerrero Jr., just blossomed into an all-star and while he could in theory move back to third base, the prevailing wisdom is to leave well enough alone — he’s perfect from a profile standpoint.
He’s a lefty bat that hits for power and average and gets on base, while also bringing strong leadership and teammate qualities. The long-term deal needed to lock Freeman down carries some risk of pricey sunk-cost decline, and some of that money may be needed for Guerrero and Bo Bichette extensions, eventually.
Schwarber, meanwhile, is a cleaner fit as an outfielder/DH, although it could also necessitate moving someone from the current outfield group. While he doesn’t have the average piece, the 29-year-old has a career OBP of .343 and slugging percentage of .493, and is coming off a .928 OPS 2021 with Boston and Washington.
Oh, he also hits left-handed, and imagine that batting between, say, Guerrero and Teoscar Hernandez?
Pretty good.
Freeman is obviously more enticing, which is why the idea hasn’t really died since Baerga first firmly placed it into so many imaginations with this post back on Nov. 30.
Never mind the overlooked all-star seasons of Russell Martin and Mike Saunders in Toronto, it was intriguing then and it’s intriguing now. Whether Baerga is right or not we’ll soon find out.
