On Monday March 14, 2022, the Atlanta Braves made a deal to acquire all-star first baseman Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics. The next day, Olson signed an 8-year, $168 million deal with the Braves.
This pair of moves shocked the baseball world because it signified also the end of the 12-year long Freddie Freeman era in Atlanta. Four days later, the first baseman Freeman inked a deal for 6 years, $162 million with the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers.
Freeman was drafted by Atlanta in 2007 and has starred for the Braves since he made his Major League debut in 2010. In 2020, Freeman won a National League Most Valuable Player award, and in 2021 he led Atlanta to its first World Series championship since 1995.
Freeman was also named as the Braves’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente award in 2020, which goes to the player who has the best mix of on field play and community involvement. In short, Freeman is an icon in the city of Atlanta. Many baseball pundits thought there was no chance Freeman would leave Atlanta because of what he has done for the city both on and off the field.
Cornerstones of franchises departing after becoming stars in a single city has become a bit of a trend in Major League Baseball. Recent examples include shortstop Carlos Correa leaving Houston in free agency to join the Minnesota Twins and the Colorado Rockies sending third baseman Nolan Arenado to the St. Louis Cardinals for what some would consider a bag of balls.
America’s national pastime has seen an alarming increase in the age of its average fan and has fallen well behind the National Football League in terms of television ratings.
Many experts have dug deep into the reasoning behind this. Some believe that baseball is no longer America’s most popular sport because of the increase of the length of time that it takes to play a game. Another reason may be because of its failure to market its big-time players in the same way that the NBA and NFL have found success doing.
While these may be possibilities for why baseball has been considered a dying sport, another reason may be its lack of loyalty. Franchises like the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, who have the money on hand to pay their star players, would not pony up and pay their players.
In other cases, teams like the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics, who consistently spend the least money in the league, trade away their star players in order to keep a low payroll.
The MLB is a business, and the goal of all owners is to make money, but owners need to keep the interests of the fans in mind. The MLB should incentivize teams to keep their players to not only keep their teams competitive but to keep the fans of their team happy.
After all, the players who star for a single team throughout their careers are the ones who fans latch onto, therefore bringing more fans to the sport of baseball.