LOS ANGELES — Less than 24 hours after extending the deadline to make a decision, the Dodgers reached agreement on a one-year contract with veteran first baseman David Freese.
Freese will receive the $500,000 buyout in his contract, voiding the club option, and re-sign for a $4.5 million salary in 2019. The club option was for a $6 million salary.
The 35-year-old Freese was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of August. Playing almost exclusively against left-handed pitching, Freese batted .385 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 19 regular-season games then went 8 for 22 (.364) with two home runs and six RBIs in the postseason.
The Dodgers also valued Freese’s veteran leadership in a clubhouse that will be without Chase Utley next season. Utley retired at the end of the 2018 season. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner praised Freese during the team’s playoff run.
“His pedigree is off the charts in our clubhouse,” Turner said. “He’s probably been in and done it better than anyone else we have. But then as the month, month and a half has gone on, watching him and seeing the connections he’s made with the younger guys has been incredible. They flock to him. They’re always around him, they’re always talking to him.
“I think at some point, guys get tired of hearing the same voices over and over again. So to bring him in and have a new voice and a new guy kind of preaching the same stuff that we preach, maybe in a little bit different way I think was refreshing for those guys, and I think it’s gone a long way.”
In 10 big-league seasons, Freese has been to the World Series three times – with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 and 2013 and the Dodgers this season. He was the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP when the Cardinals won the championship in 2011.
A career .275 hitter with a .764 OPS and 102 home runs, Freese has been even better in the postseason – a .295 average and .911 OPS with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs in 65 postseason games.
The Dodgers remain in ongoing negotiations with ace Clayton Kershaw. According to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the talks with Kershaw’s camp are “ongoingly pleasant.”
The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and the team agreed to extend the deadline on Kershaw’s opt-out decision by nearly two days, from Wednesday night until 1 p.m. PT on Friday.
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