Freese was reportedly considered by the Yankees to fill for the possibly suspended A-Rod at third base, it doesn't look like that will be a possibility anymore.
The biggest news of the day until recently was the Mets signing outfielder Chris Young. The hot stove was flickering. Then, the Cardinals threw some devil magic into the flames and saved defensive ace Peter Bourjos from the horrors of Anaheim in exchange for a player suspected by Ken Rosenthal to be third baseman David Freese (and possibly others):
Source: #Angels trade Bourjos to #STLCards. Freese presumably going to Anaheim. That part presently unconfirmed.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 22, 2013Again: Bourjos traded to #STLCards. #Angels had been seeking outfielder for Freese. Not known if others involved.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 22, 2013It has not been confirmed whether or not it is Freese going to the Angels, but the baseball Twitterverse suspects it and both ESPN's Jim Bowden and Yahoo's Tim Brown have reported it. It appear that there will be a prospects exchanged, too.
Earlier in the off-season, Tanya wrote about the Yankees' rumored interest in the 2011 NLCS/World Series MVP, given the likely absence of third baseman Alex Rodriguez for most of 2014:
Bringing in Freese would give the team a solid if unspectacular backup plan in case MLB's arbitrator carries out most or all of Rodriguez's 211-game suspension this offseason. In 138 games for the Cardinals in 2013, Freese batted .262/.340/.381 with nine home runs. His best season at the major league level to date came recently in 2012 when Freese posted a 133 wRC+ with 20 home runs and a .293/.372/.467 batting line with solid defense, but that area of his game was not as great in 2013. The Cardinals' motivation for moving Freese is apparently to open up second base for Kolten Wong by moving Matt Carpenter to third base, according to Feinsand.
Shortly after the rumors emerged regarding the Yankees and Freese, Rosenthal was among the ones to counter that it was unlikely since the Yankees and Cardinals did not really seem to be much of a match as trade partners. Now, those words have come to fruition as it appears that Freese is on his way to the dumpster fire engulfing Mike Trout on the West Coast.
The Yankees will have to make some move to bring in a backup plan at third base in case A-Rod gets suspended as suspected, and though bringing in Freese wouldn't have been a masterstroke, it could have helped. The Yankees must make do with convincing shortstop Jhonny Peralta to change positions, finding another third baseman on the trade market, or gambling on Mark Reynolds at a possible he can't field.
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Update
Confirmed.
Today the club acquired INF David Freese and RHP Fernando Salas from the @Cardinals in exchange for OF Peter Bourjos and OF Randal Grichuk.
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) November 22, 2013