ATLANTA — After Freddie Freeman hit the home run on Tuesday night to put the icing on the Braves' 7-0 win to clinch the World Series, FOX announcer Joe Buck rankled some fans with his call of the moment.
"How about that? In what might his last at-bat for the Atlanta Braves, he's just made it 7-0 with a shot into left center field here in the seventh (inning) of game 6," Buck said as Freeman rounded third and came into home.
His last at-bat for the Atlanta Braves, huh?
It's a sore subject among the fanbase. Freeman is a free agent after the season (so, in a sense, now), and the team's inability so far to reach an agreement with their iconic first baseman has been a somewhat uncomfortable storyline lurking beneath the surface for much of the season.
As recently as September, MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported there was "still a gap" between the two sides and that "free agency appears a surprisingly strong possibility."
Freeman had been on an 8-year, $135 million deal that paid him $22 million in base salary last year.
It's not clear what kind of terms Freeman and the Braves are discussing, but at 32 years old he's looking at will likely be his last major contract as a professional baseball player, assuming he signs for four or more years.
Historically, more fiscally conservative teams (like the Braves often are) have been reluctant to make big commitments to players at this stage of their career.
Freddie, of course, hasn't shown any meaningful sign of slowing down. Despite a slow start to the year, he wound up hitting .300 with a .395 on-base percentage, .503 slugging percentage, 31 home runs 85 RBIs. It was a very solid follow-up on his 2020 MVP season, and his sixth straight year hitting at least .295.
The five-time All-Star has been a model of consistency, with an approach to hitting that could lend itself to aging better than say, the profile of a pure power hitter.
For his part, Freeman is unequivocal about his desire to stay in Atlanta.
"Do you wanna be hear the rest of your career?" Frank Thomas asked him in a postgame interview on Tuesday night.
"Everyone knows that answer. Did I think I was gonna be sitting here with no contract after this? No, but everyone knows this is a crazy game, crazy business, but everyone knows where my heart is, and it's the Atlanta Braves," Freeman said. "I've been here since I was 17 years old - almost half my life I've been in this organization - so I think everyone knows how my heart is... it means everything to put on that Braves uniform every day, so hopefully I can continue to do that."
The only question now is whether the Braves, as David Ortiz implored them to do last night, will "pay the man."