SF Giants pitcher offers subtle take on free agency rumor

As the MLB lockout rages on through what was supposed to be the start of Spring Training, players on 40-man rosters are sitting at home instead of working through team drills and preparing for a date set-in-stone for the start of the 2022 season. With players having more time on their hands, some turn to social media and show they have hopes for the next season - which is what SF Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood did over the weekend.

On Sunday evening, Wood quote-tweeted an out-of-the-blue tweet from baseball reporter Jared Carrabis about Freddie Freeman hitting the most-recent home run in MLB history. Wood, expected to be solidly in the middle of the Giants' starting rotation in 2022 after a bounce-back season with the team in 2021, made clear that he hopes Freeman stays with the only MLB team he's known rather than another rumored destination:

Freeman, a free agent at the end of the 2021 season after leading the Atlanta Braves to their first World Series title since 1995, was expected to re-sign with the team he was drafted by in 2007 and has played for in every one of his Major-League seasons, but a deal didn't get done by the time MLB owners locked out the players (midnight on December 2, 2021). Coming off a campaign where he hit .300 with 31 home runs and led the National League with 695 plate appearances, Freeman has been one of the top free agents this offseason.

Freeman has been rumored to have been courted by the SF Giants' rivals

With his return to Atlanta in doubt, many have speculated that Freeman could be a fit for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who lost to Freeman's Braves in the NLCS and could have an opening at his position, first base. While Freeman has been a career Brave, he hails from Orange County in Southern California and could have interest in playing closer to where he grew up.

Clearly, Wood was hoping that Freeman wouldn't sign with the Dodgers, a team the Giants will play nearly 20 times in 2022 (depending on whether a full schedule gets played after the lockout ends) and who Wood will surely pitch against on multiple occasions. Wood saw first-hand what Freeman is capable of when he was a teammate of the slugger from 2013-2015, and he'd prefer to stay away from him as much as possible - and would prefer LA doesn't have that huge bat bolstering their lineup for years to come.

In a twist later Sunday night, Dodgers third-baseman Justin Turner quote-tweeted Wood's comment with his own feelings, implying he'd click a "Dislike button" for Wood's thoughts, if one existed on Twitter.