Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After the Dodgers extended the deadline to decide on his option decision yesterday, it’s no surprise that David Freese will be back with the team in 2019. What was a surprise was that they gave him his $0.5 million buyout and then signed him to a 1-year, $4.5 million contract, effectively getting him back at just $1 million less than they would’ve just exercising his $6 million option.
David Freese has agreed to go back to the #Dodgers on a 1-yr contract
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 2, 2018
Freese got a new $5M deal, $4.5M plus $500G from buyout #Dodgers
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 2, 2018
The reasons they would want Freese back are obvious.
In his age-35 season, Freese posted a .296/.359/.471/.830 line in 2018, including a ridiculous .385/.489/.641/1.130 line with the Dodgers in the regular season and a .364/.423/.773/1.196 line in the playoffs. He was worth 2 fWAR and 2 rWAR, so his defense graded out about average-ish by both metrics, and that generally matches the eye test despite some postseason uncomfortableness.
I had thought the delay was that the Dodgers wanted to leverage Freese’s option into additional years or something, assuming that he could’ve bested 1-year, $6 million as a free agent, but it sure seems like he took a discount of sorts to stay. That either speaks well of the Dodgers organization or poorly of the assumed market for a player like Freese (or both). Regardless, Freese should be at least a valuable bench piece in 2019 and also insurance should Dodgers first basemen struggle against lefties.
