Reaction to Freddie Freeman signing with the Dodgers

Freddie Freeman agreed to sign with the Dodgers for a reported six years and $162 million. He vaults an already strong lineup to an even higher level, and was one of the biggest moves of the MLB offseason.

We even podcasted about the signing late Wednesday night!

As you might imagine, there was quite a reaction around baseball, and not just from new teammates in eye-emoji form nor despair from rivals.

Links

First, the nuts and bolts of the Dodgers signing Freeman, from Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register, from Juan Toribio at MLB.com, and from Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times.

Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan at ESPN were the first to report Freeman’s $162 million agreement with the Dodgers.

Freeman joins the best lineup in baseball, says R.J. Anderson at CBS Sports.

What Freeman adds to the stacked Dodgers lineup, from Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic.

“The Braves make the number crunchers in the Dodgers’ front office look like baseball romantics by comparison,” says Dylan Hernandez at the Los Angeles Times.

It’s going to be weird for Braves fans without Freeman, but Atlanta is still set up quite well, writes Demetrius Bell at Battery Power.

The new collective bargaining agreement added a fourth tier to the luxury tax, which in 2022 has a threshold of $290 million. It’s been informally dubbed the “Steve Cohen tax,” after the free-spending Mets owner, but Andy McCullough at The Athletic argues it could be called the “Mark Walter tax” instead.

Other teams’ fans mad about the Dodgers spending exorbitantly? Take it up with your owner, says Bill Shaikin at the Los Angeles Times, noting the recent tightwad tactics of stewards of the A’s, Reds, and Cubs.

Several writers at The Athletic reacted to Freeman signing with the Dodgers.

Bradford Doolittle at ESPN graded the Dodgers’ free agent splash.

ESPN Stats and Info reminds us the 2022 Dodgers will be the fifth MLB team to have four former MVPs on the roster. Last year’s Dodgers team was also one of those with an MVP quartet, with Freeman taking Albert Pujols’ spot this year.

Here’s a look at the Los Angeles Times sports section on Thursday morning.