Dodgers re-sign Freese to 1-year, $4.5-million deal

David Freese is staying in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers re-signed the free-agent infielder to a one-year contract for 2019 after declining the club option on his old deal, per a team announcement on Thursday.

Financial terms of Freese's contract were not officially released, but Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports reported that it's worth $4.5 million. Freese will also receive the $500,000 buyout cost of his previous contract's club option, raising the new deal's total value to $5 million.

Los Angeles held a $6-million option on Freese as part of his just-completed contract. The original deadline for the team to decide on picking up that option was Wednesday, but the sides had already agreed to extend the deadline to Friday afternoon as momentum was building towards a new deal.

Freese began 2018 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and was traded to the Dodgers at the Aug. 31 waiver trade deadline. He proved to be a critical part of their drive to a second consecutive NL pennant, slashing .385/.489/.641 with a pair of homers over 19 games with the Dodgers in September. Freese also hit .364/.423/.773 over three playoff rounds.

He appeared in all five games of the Dodgers' World Series loss to Boston and was one of their only productive bats during the series, hitting .417/.500/.833 with a homer and two runs scored.

The 35-year-old is likely to slot in as a platoon bat at first base with the Dodgers in 2019. Freese is adept at hitting left-handed pitchers - he posted an .876 OPS in 155 plate appearances versus southpaws last year - and the right-handed hitter will likely share duties at first with lefty slugger Max Muncy.

Freese, the 2011 World Series MVP, owns a career .275/.349/.415 slash line with 102 homers and 506 RBIs across 10 major-league seasons with the Dodgers, Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels.