‘All bets are off’: The inside story of how the Dodgers lured Freddie Freeman home

All winter lengthy, Freddie Freeman’s household might sense the turmoil inside him. The All-Star first baseman had simply reached the top of his profession, successful a World Collection with an Atlanta Braves franchise that had drafted him, developed him and nurtured his rise as one in every of baseball’s largest stars.

But, as quickly because the season ended, uncertainty started to set in.

The primary-time free agent didn’t know whether or not he’d be returning to the one workforce he’d ever identified. He wished to, making that need clear repeatedly in the course of the 2021 season, together with within the aftermath of the Braves’ Recreation 6 win towards the Houston Astros.

Negotiations, nonetheless, remained caught in impartial. Main League Baseball’s three-month lockout delayed the method additional and by the point offseason exercise resumed final week, he had turn out to be fatigued by the frustration, nonetheless not sure of what was to come back on the largest crossroads of his profession.

His household observed that he wasn’t joking round as a lot, that he was struggling to sleep and had even misplaced weight from the stress.

“He was attempting to cover it, however we might see it,” his stepmom, Alma Freeman, stated. “He wasn’t the identical.”

On Friday afternoon, at a spring coaching complicated he’d by no means known as dwelling earlier than, the relaxed, smiling Freeman reappeared. On the primary day of his Dodger profession, recent off signing a six-year, $162 million cope with the membership, the 32-year-old joked with new teammates and waved to new followers, posing for photos in his new uniform after he was formally launched at a information convention at Camelback Ranch.

Earlier within the week, the 32-year-old had been heartbroken about not returning to the Braves, who extinguished any hope of a reunion once they traded for an additional first baseman, Matt Olson of the Oakland Athletics, on Monday.

However then the Dodgers got here calling with a rejuvenating different. After courting the Orange County native all through the winter, they introduced him the possibility to come back dwelling to Southern California.

“We have been speaking a pair weeks in the past,” Freeman’s father, Fred, recalled in a Friday interview, “and he stated, ‘Dad, if I’m not a Courageous, what do you suppose? Ought to I’m going again East?”

“Freddie,” Fred replied, “when you’re not going to be a Courageous, I need you dwelling.’”

“So do I,” Freddie stated.

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On the afternoon of Dec. 1, because the clock ticked down towards an owner-imposed lockout, Dodgers gamers, coaches and entrance workplace personnel had gathered on the Terranea Resort alongside the Palos Verdes Peninsula for Mookie Betts’ wedding ceremony. As night time fell, a celebration commenced inside — “she did it up large,” Betts laughed about his spouse, Brianna — that included a dwell efficiency from rapper Nelly.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, supervisor Dave Roberts and third baseman Justin Turner, nonetheless, had ducked outdoors. Huddled round a cellphone, they known as Freeman on speaker, keen to go away an enduring impression earlier than the clock struck 9 of the West Coast, which might set off the lockout and bar all contact between gamers and workforce personnel.

“We have been like, ‘Let’s go name him,’” Roberts recalled. “We wished to be the final workforce to speak to him [before the lockout].”

On Friday Friedman recalled their message to the free agent, who was feeding his child son a bottle once they rang him up: “Hey, don’t overlook about us. Throughout this era, don’t overlook about us.”

In the beginning of the offseason, the Dodgers had little expectation Freeman could be a reliable goal, sharing the industry-wide perception that he’d find yourself again with the Braves.

When free company opened in November with Freeman nonetheless unsigned, nonetheless, the Dodgers slowly escalated their pursuit. Turner, a buddy of Freeman’s who for years had badgered him throughout video games about coming to LA, stated he sporadically texted Freeman over the winter about “how good he would look in Dodger blue.”

“I believe we have to give an help to Justin Turner,” Freeman stated Friday. “His title popped up on my cellphone fairly a bit all through this entire course of.”

Friedman jokingly chimed in: “There’s undoubtedly tampering costs that may be filed towards Justin Turner.”

A number of days after Thanksgiving, Roberts and Friedman laid out a extra intensive pitch throughout an hour-plus Zoom assembly that additional piqued Freeman’s curiosity.

“It was simply such a simple dialog,” Freeman stated.

And all through the pre-lockout interval, the Dodgers entrance workplace stayed in fixed communication with Freeman’s brokers at Excel Sports activities Administration, making their curiosity abundantly clear though they remained satisfied Atlanta was his more than likely touchdown place.

“We appreciated and revered his emotions in direction of Atlanta, and stated that to him on the Zoom name,” Friedman stated. “Simply saying, ‘Hey, neither one in every of us is certain precisely how this stuff are gonna play out, however let’s keep in contact.’”

It was a stark distinction to Freeman’s expertise with the Braves over the previous 12 months. Final spring, he was disillusioned when “nothing actually occurred” in negotiations over an extension. Earlier than the commerce deadline, the Braves introduced a proposal that ESPN reported was initially value $125 million over 5 years (and was later elevated to $140 million).

Freeman stated his representatives despatched a counterproposal, however that talks stagnated from there. As soon as the offseason started, he stated he heard immediately from Braves officers solely twice, merely check-in calls on both aspect of the lockout.

“The communication wasn’t there as we went by the offseason,” Freeman stated.

For Freeman, a six-year deal was a serious precedence. It was one 12 months greater than Paul Goldschmidt acquired within the $130 million contract he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019, the most effective comparability amongst elite-level first basemen.

“All alongside, Freddie wished years,” his dad Fred stated. “He’s made some huge cash. It’s not like he has to interrupt the financial institution. He wished to be paid pretty, however he desires to play. He wished that additional 12 months as a result of he wished to play.”

The Braves, nonetheless, didn’t tempt him with a greater supply, leaving Freeman torn between his allegiance to Atlanta and need for his most well-liked construction of a deal.

“I didn’t suppose I’d ever turn out to be a free agent,” Freeman stated. “I didn’t suppose this was going to turn out to be a actuality. However in the end it did. And all bets are off when that occurs.”

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Freeman and his dad have been at a gymnasium in Newport Seashore when the ultimate bridge again to Atlanta burned.

5 days faraway from the top of the MLB lockout on March 10, little had modified in Freeman’s negotiation with the Braves. Regardless of fan strain fueled by the February launch of the workforce’s monetary studies, which revealed a revenue of greater than $100 million, the workforce didn’t budge on its closing supply. And Freeman didn’t cave earlier than a reported deadline final Saturday.

“I believe they’ve a marketing strategy … and so they’re not going to deviate from it,” Fred stated. “That’s the way in which it’s.”

Nonetheless, the youthful Freeman nonetheless held out hope of a return to the Braves, heading to the gymnasium believing his profession with the workforce wasn’t but toast.

Then, his cellphone began to buzz. Twitter notifications popped up saying the Braves had made a blockbuster commerce with the A’s for Olson, a youthful left-handed slugger acquired to switch him because the membership’s first baseman.

“To be trustworthy,” he stated, “I used to be blindsided.”

The remainder of the night time was an emotional roller-coaster. Alma, Freeman’s stepmom, and Chelsea, his spouse, cried. Freeman stated that, for a pair hours, he might hardly communicate. His father tried to grapple with the information, too, coming to grips with the actual fact his son would now not play for the Braves.

“I actually thought he was going to be there the remainder of his profession,” Fred stated. “They weren’t speaking, but it surely was nonetheless a shock.”

From their despair, nonetheless, new alternatives rapidly arose.

Different groups had been linked to Freeman all through the offseason, specifically the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Crimson Sox. Nevertheless it wasn’t till the Braves minimize the twine with the Olson commerce that the curiosity actually heated up.

“After that commerce went down, I believe each workforce realized, ‘Whoa, wait a second, there’s an opportunity right here,’” Freeman stated. “That’s when issues began to get entering into that subsequent 48 hours.”

That’s additionally when the Dodgers’ earlier reference to Freeman, which had resumed instantly upon the top of the lockout, started to pay dividends, too.

After talks all through the afternoon Tuesday, the Dodgers submitted a number of proposals late that night time. Fred was scheduled to satisfy along with his son at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, however by 8:30 that morning Freeman was already calling to inform his dad all the main points.

“They despatched over 4 proposals and have been like, ‘Which one would you like?’” Fred stated. “It’s simply superb any individual would try this. [Friedman] was open and trustworthy and stated, ‘Our CBT tax is that this. That is what we might do, that is what it’s costing us and why we will do it.’ He was upfront about all the things.”

As the edges hammered out particulars over that two-day stretch, Fred stated two rival groups tried to make late, aggressive pushes for Freeman’s signature, one providing to fly in for an in-person assembly.

Freeman, nonetheless, had already made up his thoughts.

“He instructed me, ‘Dad, I’m drained, I need to play baseball,’” Fred recalled. “Although he didn’t have a cope with the Dodgers [yet], he instructed the groups, ‘Don’t trouble.’ He had determined.”

The cash (which incorporates deferred funds of $57 million, based on particulars of the contract that was filed by the Main League Baseball Gamers Affiliation) mattered after all. So did the sixth 12 months.

However whereas reflecting on the method Friday, Freeman stated the end result had loads to do with the Dodgers’ pitch, too, a gross sales job that planted photos of a celebratory homecoming in his creativeness.

“When the workforce that performs at dwelling desires you to come back dwelling,” Freeman stated, “I believe that’s what made it such a particular and straightforward resolution.”

All that was left Wednesday night time have been some closing particulars. Fred and Alma, who dwell in Villa Park about 25 minutes from Freeman and Chelsea’s winter dwelling in Corona del Mar, spent many of the night over at their place, anxiously awaiting a deal to be agreed.

With no information by the top of dinner round 8 p.m., they determined to move dwelling. They thought perhaps it could take yet one more day, in spite of everything, to get throughout the end line.

However 10 minutes after they received again, Fred’s cellphone started to ring. His son was calling over FaceTime.

“The deal is finished,” Freeman exclaimed.