Cardinals avoid arbitration with Freese

St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to terms with third baseman David Freese on a one-year deal to avoid salary arbitration.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the amount is expected to exceed $3 million. The 29-year-old and 2011 World Series MVP is coming off a season in which he posted career highs with 20 home runs and 79 RBI.

Selected to his first All-Star team, Freese played in a career-best 144 games in 2012, while hitting .293.