{"id":35287,"date":"2025-03-23T02:04:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T02:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287"},"modified":"2025-03-23T02:04:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T02:04:22","slug":"freddie-freeman-pretty-special-to-be-part-of-dodgers-organization-committed-to-winning-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

While free agency over the last two years played out with the Los Angeles Dodgers meeting expectations of being the favorite to sign Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, spring 2022 saw Freddie Freeman fortuitously end up with the team.<\/p>\n

Freeman was coming off a World Series championship with the Atlanta Braves, who drafted him in the second round in 2007. He emerged as a franchise cornerstone and was beloved in the Atlanta community.<\/p>\n

But contract negotiations stalled and the Braves shockingly moved in another direction by trading for Matt Olson and signing him to an extension.<\/p>\n

That directed\u00a0Freeman to the Dodgers on a bargain six-year, $162 million contract. He\u2019s become a linchpin in the Dodgers lineup and stalwart at first base.<\/p>\n

While the 35-year-old has been part of talented teams throughout his career, the 2025 Dodgers arguably rank at the top in terms of collection of talent.<\/p>\n

That has drawn the ire of opposing team owners and fanbases, and led to increased calls for an MLB salary cap when a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) needs to go in place after the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Rob Manfred has aimed to slow criticism of the Dodgers,\u00a0but also acknowledged concern throughout the sport needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman: Dodgers not bad for baseball<\/h2>\n

Unsurprisingly, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, manager Dave Roberts and Blake Snell have been among those to defend the organization, and Freeman recently joined that chorus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told about the ruining baseball and all this. Like I\u2019ve told you before, to be part of an organization that puts a contending team on the field year in and year out, and what I mean by that is fans are pouring their hard-earned money into us when they come to Dodger Stadium, and to see an organization put it back into the team, I think that\u2019s why everyone is so happy,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a buzz around here. There was a buzz last year when we got Shohei, and there is a major buzz here now. That\u2019s a testament to our organization, our fans, our front office. Players want to come here. Mark Walter and the Dodgers organization, they\u2019re putting $100 million in the community, they\u2019re doing so much good stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand people can be mad at us, but when you\u2019re here, they\u2019re doing so much good work. To pour it back into the fans and put a product that people want to come out for six straight months, you never know what you\u2019re going to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to give people memories as an organization, I think it\u2019s pretty special to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While free agency over the last two years played out with the Los Angeles Dodgers meeting expectations of being the favorite to sign Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nFreddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While free agency over the last two years played out with the Los Angeles Dodgers meeting expectations of being the favorite to sign Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287\",\"name\":\"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"While free agency over the last two years played out with the Los Angeles Dodgers meeting expectations of being the favorite to sign Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287","name":"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-23T02:04:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/USATSI_24644929_168394736_lowres.jpg","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=35287#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Freddie Freeman: \u2018Pretty Special To Be Part Of\u2019 Dodgers Organization Committed To Winning World Series"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35289,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35287\/revisions\/35289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}