The Braves have a tough pill to swallow upon Freddie Freeman's latest Atlanta return

The Atlanta Braves let Freddie Freeman walk before the 2022 season. By all accounts, that decision worked out fine for both sides. Matt Olson was added via trade from the Athletics, and is a perennial All-Star candidate. Freeman, on the other hand, has won two World Series with the Dodgers and offered up his own Kirk Gibson moment just two seasons ago. While a Freeman return to Atlanta doesn't bring with it as many bad memories as it used to, it still isn't ideal.

Freeman was a Braves franchise icon. He was Atlanta's next Chipper Jones, and more than willing to spend most if not all of his career in Atlanta. What stood in the way was one year, and an agent who was unwilling to negotiate on that topic. Alex Anthopoulos offered five years. Freeman wanted six. The Dodgers gave him six. Well on the way to another 4-plus bWAR season, Freeman's been as stable with the Dodgers as he was with the Braves. Odds are, 2027 (should the season occur at all) will feature Freeman in the NL All-Star Game once again.

Why the Freddie Freeman discussion is so tough for some Braves fans

Keeping Freeman wouldn't have guaranteed the Braves another World Series. Yet, losing a franchise icon to a National League rival right after emerging victorious in the Fall Classic was a tough pill to swallow. The same can be said of every Freeman visit back to the ATL since. The further he gets from his Braves days, the more likely it is that he's remembered as a Dodger. And really, can you blame MLB fans for doing so?

Freeman spent 12 seasons with the Braves. That's tough to overcome, especially if we're talking Hall-of-Fame plaques. Yet, in just five seasons with the Dodgers, Freeman has accumulated more NL All-Star appearances than he ever did with Atlanta. His bWAR hasn't taken a step back either, despite what Anthopoulos and his analytics team predicted.

Freeman had the two best years of his career in 2022 and 2023, both in Los Angeles. He eventually overcame the emotion that came with not being a career Brave. The first time Freeman traveled to Atlanta as a player on the road team, he struggled to compete, so much so that Clayton Kershaw had to pull him aside. This is a man who never wanted to leave the Braves organization.

The sad truth for the Braves if that they were proven wrong. Here Freeman is, going on year six in a Dodgers uniform, still a dominant force in the National League. End of story.

Freddie Freeman will never be Bobby Cox or Chipper Jones for the Braves

Just a few years ago, The House That Hank Built put together a Mount Rushmore for the Braves. Freeman was named as an honorable mention, and odds are he's even further removed from that conversation now. The players and managers included were Hank Aaron, Chipper Jones, Dale Murphy and Warren Spahn. You could make an argument for Gregg Maddux, Tom Glavine or John Smoltz, of course.

Cox and Jones, unlike many of the names listed above, were career Braves. Freeman was on that tragectory, but instead took his talents elsewhere over a negotiating tactic. Now, who's really at fault for that error in judgement is up for debate. Freeman's former agent, Casey Close, likely didn't understand the urgency under which the Braves were operating, which is why they traded for Olson before Freeman signed in LA. The Braves also could've just given a franchise icon an extra year and believed in his ability to age gracefully at the plate.

Truth be told, the Freeman negotiations were mishandled on both sides. It's why Freeman hired a different agent just a few months after the fact. It's also why the Braves have struggled to make it past the NLCS since.

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