As we count down the days until the CBA expires, there’s still some action on the MLB rumor mill. We’ll get to that in a second.
First, there was a big signing that happened Monday morning. Left-handed starter Eduardo Rodríguez inked a five-year, $77 million deal with the Tigers as the club looks to turn the corner and put the rebuild in the rearview mirror.
As for the rumors of the day, let’s get to it.
Yankees showing interest in Freeman
The most obvious conclusion to Freddie Freeman‘s free agency is him re-signing with the Braves, possibly for the rest of his career. With him hitting free agency before signing an extension, however, the Braves are certainly risking another team swooping in and grabbing Freeman. We’ve heard about the Dodgers being a possibility, and now the Yankees have been thrown into the mix. Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Yankees met with Freeman’s representatives recently.
Of course, Heyman also reports that Anthony Rizzo (free agent) or Matt Olson (via trade) are probably more realistic options for the Yankees, as the Braves remain the favorites for Freeman.
Still, it’s at least interesting to see the teams outside Atlanta peeking in on Freeman. His lefty bat in Yankee Stadium would be a huge plus in that lineup, too.
Correa and Tigers continue to look like a fit
The Tigers landing Rodríguez on a relatively hefty deal this early in the offseason shows how serious they are about spending money to supplement their young, in-house talent. They need a shortstop and current manager A.J. Hinch was the Astros‘ manager for the first five years of Carlos Correa‘s career. Tigers general manager Alex Avila has publicly said that, yes, shortstop is a need, too.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the Tigers are favorites for Correa or anything, but they absolutely seem like a great fit. Sure enough, Robert Murray of Fansided reports that the Tigers met this Correa’s representatives at the general manager meetings last week.
Correa recently declined the Astros’ qualifying offer. Speaking of, here’s our updated QO tracker.
