Padres Interested in Braves Freddie Freeman?

So Yonder Alonso is no longer in town. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for how the Padres can fill that now vacated first base position. Could one resolution be from the Padres favorite trade partner from last off-season the Atlanta Braves?

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At the beginning of 2014 the Braves made a whole bunch of extensions to their young core, making their fans think they were planning for the future and hoping to be really good by 2017 when their new SunTrust Park opens up. Then things changed. Jason Heyward was traded, Justin Upton and Craig Kimbrel to the Padres. Still they were left with some good pitching along with the best shortstop in the world Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman who was signed to an 8 year deal. Then about a month ago Simmons was traded to the Angels. Could Freddie be next?

The reports vary on Freemans status, but it appears the Braves are at least listening and Preller is certainly seen as aggressive. As we saw last year, Preller isn’t someone who necessarily has his next move planned out before his current one. So I don’t think that by trading Alonso it means that he has a new first baseman picked out.

Freeman came up in 2011 and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to then teammate Craig Kimbrel. He made the All-Star team in 2014 and 2015 but actually topped out at home runs in 2012 & 2013 at 23. Last year he battled numerous injuries including a nagging wrist injury that limited him to 118 games. He has a career .285/.366/.832 line(BA/OBP/OPS).

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So while the power of Chris Davis is certainly intriguing, Freeman in theory would get on base more frequently and at 26 years old is just now entering his prime instead of Davis who might be in or past his prime already.

With Mark Trumbo headed to Baltimore there goes another option and certainly Freeman is the best fielding of the group.

So far this off-season instead of fixing holes in the team Preller has just created more. Add first baseman to set-up man and closer to shortstop and veteran starting pitcher. Should be a fun December.