Just minutes before Friday night’s August 31 MLB waiver trade deadline, the Dodgers announced that they had acquired 35-year-old / 10-year MLB veteran infielder David Freese from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for 20-year-old minor league infielder Jesus Manuel Valdez.

In his 93 games with the Pirates this season, Freese posted a slash-line of .282 / .336 / .444 for an OPS of .780. He also slugged nine home runs, 10 doubles and one triple, while driving in 42 runs and scoring 29. He went 31-for-109 (.284) against left-handers and a near identical 36-for-128 (.281) against right-handers. He also posted a combined .977 fielding percentage in the 54 games that he played at third base and 15 games at first base.

“I just found that out,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters upon hearing the trade news following Friday night’s exciting 3-2 win over the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. “I’ve liked… he’s a world champion and so we’re going to use him against left-handed pitching, he’ll be a bat off the bench against the right-handers.

“He can play the corners, first and third, so he’s a veteran presence, offensive, great clubhouse guy,” added the Dodgers skipper. “So our guys have done a great job kind of supporting us, so we’re excited to have him.”

Freese, who was initially drafted by the San Diego Padres in the ninth round of the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri, spent the first five years of his major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he was a member of the 2011 World Series champions.

The right-handed throwing and hitting Corpus Christi, Texas native is best remembered for being named as the MVP of both the 2011 National League Championship Series and the 2011 World Series, during which he hit an 11th inning, game-winning, walk-off solo home-run in Game-6 to force a deciding Game-7.

The St. Louis Cardinals dugout clears as David Freese rounds first base after his game winning walk-off solo home run against the Texas Rangers in the eleventh inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
(Photo credit – Jim Young)

Ironically, that extra-inning, walk-off postseason home run was the first by a Cardinals player since 2002, when veteran MLB outfielder Jim Edmonds – the man for whom Freese was traded for in 2007 – did so. Freese joined Aaron Boone (2003), David Ortiz (2004) and Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk (1975) and Kirby Puckett (1991) as the only players to hit an extra-inning, walk-off home run when their team was facing postseason elimination. Freese was also selected to the National League All-Star team in 2012.

The 20-year-old Valdez made his professional debut with the DSL Dodgers this season after signing as an international free agent on July 20, 2017. In his 60 games with the DSL Dodgers, Valdez hit .230 with 44 runs scored, 11 doubles, four triples, six home runs and 27 RBI, while posting an impressive .343 on-base percentage.

To create room for Freese on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred right-hander Erik Goeddel to the 60-day disabled list for right elbow inflammation.