ESPN ranks Yankees as top landing spot for Atlanta star first baseman

By Alexander Wilson

·January 20, 2022

The New York Yankees have several positions they need to upgrade this off-season, but they will likely only have the green-light to spend big money on one or two free agents. They have the necessary pieces to trade for a pitcher or infielder, but general manager Brian Cashman shouldn’t be conservative with his spending.

Considering the Yankees are one of the most profitable teams in baseball and have been working under their earnings significantly the past few seasons, they can easily afford to go out and land a player like Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves. In fact, the Yankees rank as one of the top destinations for Freeman during free agency 2.0.

Per ESPN, the Yankees would be the 2nd best landing spot for Freddie Freeman:

Freeman is a difference-maker, and might cost about half as much as Carlos Correa, the star shortstop who would fill another glaring need in the Yankees’ lineup. The Yankees reportedly seek a much cheaper stopgap at shortstop who can hold the down position until either Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza are ready to take over. Freeman helps to justify that.

Freeman is coming off a lucrative 2021 season, hitting .300 with 31 homers and 120 runs scored. His 15.4% strikeout rate is a number the Yankees would love to have in their batting order, and a lefty of his caliber in Yankee Stadium would be magical.

Freeman is a good enough defender to hold down the fort at first base, but his bat is worthy of every penny. Reports earlier this off-season indicated that Freeman would likely garner a contract worth six years and over $150 million. If I were Cashman, I would rather invest in his services over six years at less than half the price of acquiring Carlos Correa on a 10 year, $300+ million deal.

The Yankees will have to be incredibly aggressive coming out of the lockout, especially if the regular season is just around the bend.

Freeman is still expected to sign with Atlanta over the long term, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees made a strong push at his services to lock down the first base for the long term.