*** (UPDATED November 1, 2018 at 6:15 p.m. PT) ***

While the entire baseball world waited anxiously (in vain) for the announcement as to whether of not Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw was going to opt out of his $7-year / $215 million contract with the Dodgers, there was another Dodger who flew completely under the media radar with a similar fate, albeit far less significant (and expensive) than that of the extremely popular Dodgers left-hander.

Thirty-five-year-old veteran utility infielder David Freese, whom the Dodgers had acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates at the August 31 waiver trade deadline in exchange for minor league infielder Jesus Manuel Valdez for two very important reasons, has a $6 million club option for the 2019 season or a $500,000 buyout.

The first reason why Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi took out a marker on the veteran infielder was his remarkable ability to come up big in the clutch, as he did for the 2011 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. All the Corpus Christi, Texas native and (now) 10-year MLB veteran did was capture MVP honors in both the 2011 National League Championship Series and the 2011 World Series.

But it’s the second reason that the Dodgers brass rolled the dice on a 35-year-old player who is clearly on the downward side of his major league career that paid and will hopefully continue to pay huge  dividends – his unquestionable and immeasurable veteran leadership, especially with the core group of young, homegrown Dodger players. In fact, as Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner put it, “They flock to him.”

“His pedigree is off the charts in our clubhouse,” Turner recently told Derrick Goold, who was covering the just-concluded 2018 World Series for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He’s probably been in and done it better than anyone else we have. Seeing the connection he’s made with the younger guys has been incredible. They flock to him. They’re always around him. And he has, I think, a huge influence.”

As he has done throughout most of his career, Freese once again came up big in Game-5 of the 2018 World Series with his first inning solo home run. (Photo credit – Jill Weisleder)

Like Kershaw, the Dodgers had until midnight Eastern Time (9 p.m. Pacific Time) on Wednesday night to come to an agreement with Freese and his agent (Nez Balelo) as to whether or not they were going to pick up his one-year option for 2019 or buy him out. And also like Kershaw, it was announced (around) 6:30 p.m. PT that all parties involved had agreed to extend the deadline to 1 p.m. PT on Friday afternoon. And while it is very well understood why this is such a big deal for Kershaw, it is also a significant deal for Freese even though it has, as noted, flown under the radar.

What’s the big deal with Freese, you ask? Check this out:

During the just-concluded World Series, Freese had the highest batting average (.417), a tie for the highest on-base percentage (.500), the second highest slugging percentage (.833), and the second highest OPS (1.333). In fact, the only guy with a better SLG and OPS was eventual 2018 World Series MVP Steve Pearce, who posted a slash line of .333 / .500 / 1.167 for an alien-like OPS of 1.667.

Additionally, and as every Dodger fan on the planet painfully knows all too well, it was Freese’s first inning solo home run that accounted for the Dodgers only run in the final game of the 2018 Fall Classic this past Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Freese also tripled in that game, but was left stranded on third base – a well established pattern of the 2018 Dodgers.

In addition to his solo home run in the bottom of the first inning of Game-5 of the 2018 World Series, Freese also legged out a triple in the third inning. Unfortunately, he was left stranded there. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although many believe that extending the Freese announcement deadline until Friday is because he and Balelo are attempting to negotiate a multi-year contract extension (as opposed to merely picking up his one-year option), a far more believable reason is that Friedman and Zaidi are completely entrenched in negotiations with Kershaw and Close, and they simply need more time to work out a deal with the veteran infielder.

That being said and although a multi-year deal for a guy who will be 36 years old shortly after Opening Day 2019 is definitely risky business, picking up his one-year / $6 million option for the 2019 season is, quite frankly, a no-brainer.

If you don’t believe this, just ask any one of those young Dodgers who “flock to him” for his experience and wisdom.

Stay tuned…

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*** (UPDATED November 1, 2018 at 6:15 p.m. PT) ***

Late Thursday afternoon it was reported that the Dodgers bought out Freese’s $500,000 option for the 2019 season and immediately re-signed him to a 1-year / $4.5 million contract for a total of $5 million.