Baseball is a business. The Atlanta Braves reminded us of that in a big way this offseason with how they handled the Freddie Freeman negotiations and eventual farewell.
There was no love for a career spent with one organization. No “thanks for the memories.” No props for sticking through the tough times to get to the World Series … and win the title. Nope, just a notification that the Atlanta Braves were moving on from Freddie Freeman by trading with the Oakland A’s for Matt Olson.
Just when you thought the Atlanta Braves had botched all they could with Freddie Freeman, the last note of the song was perhaps the most sour of all.
Source told The Post that the #Braves did not give Freeman or his representatives a heads up that the Olson trade was coming.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) March 14, 2022
If a Major League Baseball team were to expertly craft a game plan for how to alienate a franchise player, the Atlanta Braves with Freeman have written a stunning sequel to the Colorado Rockies and their handling of Nolan Arenado.
It’s clear that the Braves have moved on from Freeman (despite there being some emotion on the face of general manager Alex Anthopoulos when discussing the Olson deal), and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the way that it was handled that seems to be the head-shaking part of the breakup.
Reportedly low-balling Freeman wasn’t exactly the way to start things off. And Atlanta, just a heads up, letting your now-ex find out from someone else that you have a new crush wasn’t exactly the way to end it either.
And that’s just the beginning and end of the awkward dance that has been Freeman and the Braves this offseason, a dance that played out publicly through rumors and social media. It’s also been a dance where the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, and other teams have tried to cut in, hoping Freeman will leave with one of them at the end of the night.
Now, it seems, one of them will after the Braves decided to dance with someone else.
There’s a quote from Braves legend Chipper Jones from a recent radio interview that includes these lines:
"“The bottom line is, Freddie, I believe, before it’s all said and done will be playing where he wants to play. I know he’s a West Coast guy. I know he has a home here in Atlanta. But Freddie, if he wants to play for the Atlanta Braves, he will be playing for the Atlanta Braves. I’ll leave it at that.”"
With Olson taking his place, Freeman is out of Atlanta. There will be plenty of finger pointing and blame to share, but the bottom line is that it should have never gotten to this point between the Braves and a face of their franchise.
As great as Anthopoulos was last season at rebuilding Atlanta’s lineup at the trade deadline, he seemingly couldn’t rebuild a relationship that crumbled as the offseason went along with Freeman.