Analysis of deal shows Freddie’s no freeloader

ATLANTA — Before the start of the 2014 season, the Braves essentially chose their franchise cornerstone by buying out Jason Heyward’s final two arbitration-eligible seasons and providing Freddie Freeman a franchise-record eight-year, $135 million contract.

Yeah, there were rumblings about the possibility of trading Freeman after his frustrating, injury-plagued 2015 season. But once the 27-year-old first baseman overcame concerns about his right wrist and re-established himself as one of the game’s elite performers this past season, the Braves gained comfort with the commitment that will net Freeman $106.5 million over the next five seasons.

Freeman’s salary jumps from $12 million to $20.5 million for the 2017 season. He will make $21 million in the two seasons that follow and then $22 million in both ’20 and ’21 — the final two years of the deal.

According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, 13 position players will draw a higher salary than Freeman’s $20.5 million in 2017: Miguel Cabrera ($28 million), Albert Pujols ($26 million), Robinson Cano ($24 million), Joe Mauer ($23 million), Yoenis Cespedes ($22.5 million), Justin Upton ($22.3 million), Hanley Ramirez ($22 million), Joey Votto ($22 million), Heyward ($21.5 million), Adrian Gonzalez ($21.5 million), Matt Kemp ($21.5 million), Buster Posey ($21.4 million) and Jayson Werth ($21 million).

As Freeman enters the prime of his career, he is coming off a season within which he ranked ninth in the Majors with a 6.1 fWAR and sixth with 152 Weighted Runs Created Plus. The only high-salaried players mentioned in the previous paragraph who produced an fWAR of at least 4.0 in …

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