Freddie Freeman has lost the chance to see his best friend every day, and the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse is missing a respected figure who mentored the younger players.
Veteran outfielder Jason Heyward was released on Thursday, just two days after his pinch-hit, go-ahead three-run homer helped the Dodgers win 6-3 over the Seattle Mariners in what turned out to be his final at-bat with the team.
“What Jason did for the Dodgers in a year and a half was pretty remarkable on the field, in the clubhouse, in the community,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “His fingerprint will be everlasting.”
Heyward became expendable with the return of utilityman Chris Taylor from the injured list.
Roberts said the team thought about waiting until September 1, when rosters expand, but Taylor’s return made it necessary to make the move sooner.
“It was a roster crunch. Guys finally came back to health and we only have so much room,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, it had to be Jason. One of the tougher things I’ve had to do.”
Roberts told Heyward after Wednesday’s game against the Mariners. He described the 35-year-old veteran’s reaction as “very grateful for the opportunity, very stoic, very professional.”
Heyward’s departure leaves an empty locker near Freeman. The two have been close since they were drafted by the Atlanta Braves and lived together for a while in the minors. Their wives are friends, and both men have children.
“It’s just when two people like Jason and I have the same feelings on life, not just baseball but everything in life, it’s easy to become friends,” Freeman said in an interview last year. “We’re going on 17 years as friends and it’s going to last forever.”
