|
Freeman was the National League MVP for Atlanta in 2020, and he
led the Braves to the World Series championship in 2021.
Freeman said when it came down to selecting a team, his dad and
grandfather being in Southern California and able to play in
front of them was the deciding factor.
At an introductory press conference alongside general manager
Andrew Friedman on Friday afternoon at Camelback Ranch, Freeman
said the family theme became evident when talking to the team
before the lockout around Thanksgiving over Zoom. Around 10
minutes before the lockout began by Friedman's estimate, he went
outside the reception at Mookie Betts' wedding with other
members of the front office and reminded Freeman not to "forget
about us."
"At that point, we felt like he wanted to be here. We really
wanted him to be here. We couldn't be more excited to add him to
our lineup," Friedman said, admitting he felt the probability of
landing Freeman before the lockout happened was "a longshot."
Freeman said his father came to his house every night this week
and called the seven days "a whirlwind." Freeman said third
baseman Justin Turner served as a de facto recruiter for the
Dodgers.
"His name popped up quite a bit on my phone during all this,"
Freeman said with a smile.
The five-time All-Star first baseman agreed to a six-year, $162
million free agent contract with the Dodgers on Wednesday, two
days after Atlanta introduced his replacement, Matt Olson.
"I've been trying to think about how this was going to go and
these questions. If you spend 15 years with an organization ...
when things didn't happen last offseason and intro spring
training, and nothing was really coming to fruition, you start
to feel like this isn't going to happen," Freeman said of the
Braves' breakup. "When you get to free agency, all bets are
off."
Freeman said he attempted to step back, take in the reality of
the situation and his choice remained the same: "Time to come
home."
Atlanta bid Freeman farewell in a social media post on Friday,
thanking him for the memories. Not long after, Freeman arrived
in Los Angeles in a suit and tie to meet his new teammates and
discuss how he got there with the media.
"When you're going to spend some place for 15 years, there's
going to be some emotion," Freeman said. "Sometimes plans
change. Things moved fast in a whole bunch of different ways we
really weren't expecting, I think we can all say that. When the
lockout lifted, they made their decision to make the trade. At
that point, it was time to come home."
Freeman strengthens an already potent Dodgers team that has made
nine consecutive playoff appearances and is just a year and a
half removed from winning a World Series title.
He doesn't even have to displace a bat from the Los Angeles
lineup. Last year's primary Dodgers first baseman, Max Muncy,
could slide into the designated hitter role with the DH being
adopted in the National League for the first time.
Freeman, 32, led the NL with 120 runs last season while hitting
.300 with 31 homers and 83 RBIs. The prior year, in a
pandemic-shortened, 60-game season, Freeman hit .341 with 13
homers, 53 RBIs, a league-leading 51 runs and a league-high 23
doubles.
He has finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting six times, and he
won a Gold Glove in 2018.
Freeman had played his entire 12-year major league career with
the Braves, producing a .295 batting average, a .384 on-base
percentage, a .509 slugging percentage, 271 homers and 941 RBIs
in 1,565 games.
In 42 postseason games, he has a .290/.393/.523 batting line
with nine homers and 20 RBIs.
The Braves tacitly acknowledged that Freeman wouldn't be
returning when they acquired Olson in a trade with the Oakland
A's earlier this week. Olson signed an eight-year, $168 million
contract with Atlanta on Tuesday.
--Field Level Media
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
