Welcome to the Blue, David Freese!

As you certainly know by now, the Dodgers made another trade prior to the weekend, following the Ryan Madson deal, to bring in added depth to the infield and a sold veteran right-handed bat off the bench. The Dodgers added David Freese, and he is both a recent NLCS and World Series MVP (2011). In exchange, the Dodgers sent minor league infielder Jesus Manuel Valdez to the Pirates. Per a Dodger press release:

Freese, 35, has played in 93 games for Pittsburgh this season, hitting .282 with 29 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, nine home runs and 42 RBI along with a .780 OPS. The veteran infielder has put up very similar splits against both right-handed and left-handed pitchers, hitting .284 (31-for-109) against southpaws compared to a .281 (36-for-128) mark against righties. Defensively, he has appeared in 54 games at third base and 15 games at first base this year, posting a combined .977 fielding percentage.

The 10-year Major League veteran was part of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2011 World Series championship team where he earned the World Series MVP Award. The Corpus Christi, Texas native is a career .274/.347/.413 hitter with 182 doubles, 100 home runs and 497 RBI over 10 big leagues seasons with the Cardinals (2009-2013), Los Angeles Angels (2014-2015) and Pittsburgh Pirates (2016-2018). Freese was originally selected by the San Diego Padres in the ninth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft.

As you know, he joined the club on Saturday. Per Andy McCullough at the LA Times:

“Man, I walked in, and it felt like an All-Star game,” Freese said before Saturday’s game against Arizona.

David will wear #25 and you can follow him on twitter, here: @david23freese.

What strikes me as unusual about the two recent trades (Madson & Freese) isn't that we got solidly able hands, but that both of these guys are veteran ballplayers with significant positive playoff experience. It's the kind of experience that often gets sidelined by sabermetric analysis, but old-hands like myself tend to appreciate. Both Madson and Frrese have shown the ability to excel when the pressure is the highest, and maybe these Dodgers need that help to finally get them to the promised land.

In celebration of David Freese's addition to the club I made two fantasy baseball cards that you can see above.

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