This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA -- When the Braves ended Freddie Freeman’s hope to spend his entire career in Atlanta by acquiring Matt Olson before the start of the 2022 season, it seemed the decision would make more sense after a few years.
Well, as Freeman creeps toward his late 30s and Olson remains in what should still be his prime, it looks like the controversial decision could become even more valuable over the next few years.
Freeman is a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer who will be one of the most beloved players in Braves history. Seeing his illustrious Atlanta tenure end immediately after he brought the city its second World Series title was a serious gut punch.
But when Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos had to make a decision before the 2022 season, the past was trumped by the future. Regardless of whether Freeman was going to end up with a five- or six-year deal, Anthopoulos had to account for how the Braves were best situated during what would have been the latter years of a deal.
Let’s just say Freeman would have accepted a five-year deal to stay in Atlanta. This, of course, means the A’s would have traded Olson elsewhere.
This comparison will give you an idea of what you might have been thinking at the end of the 2024 season, which Freeman highlighted with one of the most incredible World Series performances in history.
2022-24 seasons
Even with Olson having an other-worldly 2023 season, during which he set Braves franchise records for home runs (54) and RBIs (139), it wasn’t surprising to see Freeman being the more productive of the two first basemen during the past three years.
But it’s notable that while a Hall of Famer produced HOF-caliber numbers, Olson was arguably the game's second-best first baseman during this stretch.
Now, as Freeman goes through his age-35 season with the Dodgers, we are starting to see why the Braves decided going with Olson a few years ago may prove to be more valuable in the long run.
2025 comparison
- Olson: 3.2 fWAR, 128 wRC+
- Freeman: 2.6 fWAR, 138 wRC+
Yeah, much of Olson’s WAR value is rooted in the Gold Glove-caliber production he has provided defensively. But he’s also closing the gap between him and Freeman offensively.
How Olson fares over the remainder of his eight-year deal will ultimately determine whether the Braves made the right decision to go younger at first base. But the most important comparison will come over the next seasons, which would have been the fifth and sixth years of a Freeman contract extension in Atlanta.