The Angels have avoided arbitration with third baseman David Freese on a one-year, $5.05MM deal, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). The two sides bridged one of the largest relative gaps among big-value arbitration cases: Freese filed at $6MM, while the team countered at $4.1MM.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had pegged Freese's arbitration value at $4.4MM, which he beat by a fairly substantial margin. The Halos picked up Freese in an offseason swap for Peter Bourjos, who avoided arbitration with the Cardinals for $1.2MM. The third bagger will reach free agency after the 2015 season.
With Freese and Kevin Jepsen settling today, the Angels have no more remaining arbitration cases.
