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Has David Freese’s Moment Faded?
By Danielle
The question regarding David Freese would have been a no-brainer at the beginning of May. It wasn’t until he started to see the ball around the middle of May.
Jun 26, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese (23) throws out a runner against the Houston Astros during the fourth inning at Minute Maid Park. Image Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
Over at ESPN’s SweetSpot Blog, Anna McDonald writes that Freese’s moment in time has faded.
At the beginning of May 2013, I would have agreed with that statement. But now? I don’t know.
All of that said, the St. Louis Cardinals have a problem on their hands during the offseason. Freese seems to be the odd man in the group. Kolten Wong will be the Cardinals second baseman when the 2014 season begins barring a surprise. This leaves a battle for third base between Freese and Matt Carpenter.
Freese is not a free agent until 2016 and will likely be headed to arbitration with the Cardinals unless they find a way to move him to another team. On the other hand, Carpenter is not eligible for arbitration until after the 2015 season and won’t become a free agent until 2018.
Carpenter turned 27 in November and Freese turned 30 in April. That said, Freese has battled injuries throughout his career and while that is not a problem right now, it will be something that the Cardinals will need to think about in their long-term plans. He’s a hometown kid but earlier this season, fans were ready to trade him on Twitter. That was just before the hitting streak was starting.
Nobody will ever forget his Game 6 walk-off home run during the 2011 World Series. Writing that sentence, I just flashed back to when I was jumping up and down, screaming for joy, on that late October night as Thursday night was going into the early twilight hours of Friday. Nobody will ever forget that night. Freese will be a hero for it, no matter whether he is a Cardinal or not. Without that homer and the triple that preceded it, the Rangers would have won that World Series.