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UPDATE: The numbers are in, and they're massive. The Braves have made Freddie Freeman the highest-paid player in franchise history, awarding him an eight-year, $135 million contract, per Jon Morosi of FOX Sports.
The deal has an average annual value of $16.875 million, and it buys out not only Freeman's three arbitration years, but also his first five years of free agency. The SoCal native is young enough that he'll be just 32 when the deal expires after the 2021 season.
Atlanta is a file-and-trial team, meaning that they usually go directly to arbitration with players once the salary exchange deadline passes, but that doesn't apply to multi-year deals like this one. Freeman's extension is the second multi-year deal the Braves handed out on Tuesday, coming hours after Jason Heyward agreed to a two-year, $13.3 million deal. Craig Kimbrel is now the club's only remaining arb-eligible player without a contract, and he'll be headed for an arbitration hearing later this month if he doesn't work out a multi-year extension of his own.
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ORIGINAL: The Atlanta Braves have agreed to terms on a multi-year extension with first baseman Freddie Freeman, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi reports that the deal is "huge", likely exceeding $100 million in value and possibly being worth as much as eight years and $125 million.
Freeman, 24, is under team control for the next three seasons, but today's deal likely means that some of his free agent years will be picked up as well. After being a steady producer in his first three major league seasons, Freeman broke out in 2013, finishing fifth in National League MVP voting after hitting .319 with 23 HR and 109 RBI in 147 games.
In 471 games over four major league seasons, Freeman is a lifetime .285 hitter with 68 HR and 280 RBI. He finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2012, and was named to his first All-Star team last season.
Freeman's deal comes just hours after the Braves came to terms on a two-year, $13.3 million contract with Jason Heyward, avoiding arbitration for the next two seasons. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, the Braves are likely to go to an arbitration hearing with Craig Kimbrel, who is their third player with an unresolved arbitration case.