In the afterglow of last fall's World Series triumph - the Atlanta Braves' series-clinching win over the Houston Astros not an hour old - Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said of the chances he might no longer remain with the club this season: "This is a crazy game, a crazy business. But everyone knows this is where my heart is."
It was a statement seemingly full of hope and encouragement, one that appeared to send a message to Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos that he'd love to remain in the Big Peach for any reasonable amount of money.
The Braves reportedly offered $135 million for five years, which would seem a reasonable contract indeed for the 32-year old Freeman, especially if his heart really was with the Braves.
After all, this was before gasoline began soaring toward $5 a gallon. You could get by a lot easier on $135 million over five years near the close of 2021.
But now all those happy, hopeful thoughts of Freeman remaining in Atlanta for the entirety of his career in the same way Chipper Jones once did are seemingly at an end. Atlanta sent four players to Oakland on Monday for first baseman Matt Olson, an Atlanta native that is five years younger than Freeman and who swatted 39 homers last season, which was eight more than Freeman.
That doesn't mean Olson can replace No. 5, who was clearly the face of the franchise.
As manager Brian Snitker said when informed of the Olson deal while still on the practice field, "(Freeman's) been our guy for a number of years. Personally, he's meant a lot to me."
This, of course, is the business of baseball. Of all professional sports. It almost always stinks for the fans. It sometimes stinks for the players. Just Sunday, the Boston Celtics honoring the long-retired Kevin Garnett, he and guard Ray Allen finally ended a 10-year-old rift caused by Allen joining LeBron James in Miami and breaking apart the Celtics.
Will there be feelings of betrayal in Atlanta, either toward the organization or Freeman? We'll see. But there will assuredly be a different feel to the Braves clubhouse if Freeman departs, quite likely off to the Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Yankees, who both have the ability to pay way more than $135 million over five years, as ridiculous as that sounds.
In fairness, the product on the field shouldn't be much different for Atlanta than it appeared in the World Series. Ronald Acuna Jr. smashed a towering homer in batting practice Monday and proclaimed, "I'm back."
AP photo by Eric Gay / Atlanta Braves reliever Will Smith, left, and first baseman Freddie Freeman celebrate after beating the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 of the World Series this past Nov. 2. The Braves won the World Series for the first time since 1995.The pitching should be as good or better. Olson may not be better than Freeman, but he should be good enough at first to limit the drop off in experience and overall batting average, given that Olson hit .271 to Freeman's .300 last year.
Still, Braves Country will no doubt have a collective pit in its stomach for weeks, if not months, over not seeing the copper-topped California Kid swat them out of Truist Park with the greatest of ease this summer.
"I knew this was a possibility," said Snitker. "He's a free agent. We'll continue on. We'll do what we've got to do."
As late as August they were below .500. Then Anthopoulos made some deals. The bats got hot. The pitching, especially the relief pitching, became a plus rather than a minus. The National League East was the weakest in baseball, which opened the door for the Braves to sneak into the postseason.
And once there, everybody contributed to Atlanta's first World Series title since 1995.
Yet from the minute it ended, the focus was on whether or not Freeman would return to help defend the Braves' crown. Now we apparently know the answer is no.
To go back to that late fall night in Houston, the Braves the new world champs, Freeman was celebrating with the injured Acuna, who began screaming, "We did it, we did it."
According to ESPN, Freeman replied, his face full of joy, "Doing it with you next year."
Now, if they do it again, if they repeat, they'll apparently be doing it with Acuna Jr., but without No. 5.
Which brings us back to Monday, to Anthopoulos, whose eyes watered as he talked about acquiring Olson while never directly mentioning the loss of Freeman.
"You get attached," he said, his voice slightly cracking.
Yet as another fan favorite takes the money and runs, the bigger question is: Why do the fans continue to get attached?
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
Atlanta Braves' Freddie Freeman speaks during a celebration at Truist Park, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, in Atlanta. The Braves beat the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 on Tuesday to win their first World Series MLB baseball title in 26 years. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)