It would have made sense if Freddie Freeman wanted to leave the Atlanta Braves back in March 2016. An MVP contender in his prime, he stood alone on a Braves roster that had been liquidated for prospects in the year-and-a-half since a demoralizing 2014 collapse.

“No, that never crossed my mind,” Freeman told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution at the time. He didn’t exactly have the final say in the matter, but he certainly could have raised an objection and tried to force the team’s hand.

The front office had undergone a regime change, with John Hart and John Coppolella choosing to embark on the painful rebuild path after Freeman signed an extension. His position would have been understandable.

But Freeman doubled down on a clubhouse full of people he acknowledged he didn’t recognize, on an organization that — as he saw it — had taken a chance on him.

“When I came out of high school the Braves said I could hit. Everybody else wanted me to pitch,” he told the paper. “Every time I knocked on the door, they opened it and let me come through. Three years later they give me an eight-year deal. Why would I ever want to leave? They’ve given me everything I’ve ever hoped and dreamed of. Just because you trade some of my friends, it’s going to make me want to leave? I never once thought of leaving the Braves.”

That was then. Six years later, the Braves have turned that thought into a reality, whether Freeman wants to or not.

On Monday, the Braves traded for the slugging Oakland A’s first baseman Matt Olson. And on Tuesday, they signed him to an eight-year, $168 million deal that is shockingly similar to the eight-year, $135 million pact a younger Freeman signed back in 2014 — if you adjust that for inflation, it comes out to $161.8 million. There’s good reason for the similarity: a younger Freeman is pretty much what they’re getting. Olson and Freeman come by All-Star production in different ways, but they are both 6-foot-5, left-handed first basemen who cashed in after four full seasons.

The saying has long held that baseball is a business. But in punctuating a twist ending to Freeman’s Atlanta fairy tale, the Braves have provided the most blatant proof of that aphorism in recent memory.

Why 2022 Freddie Freeman didn’t equal 2014 Freddie Freeman

The 2016 Braves got the best 162-game campaign of Freeman’s career to date. They also stumbled to an 0-9 start … that turned into a 4-17 one … and then a 9-28 one, at which point manager Fredi Gonzalez was shown the door.

He was 26 years old, accelerating into his prime as the franchise strategically hit rock bottom. It was the third of four straight losing seasons. In terms of intentions, the Braves didn’t tank hard enough or early enough to expect the rebounds achieved by the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros. In terms of results, though, they struck gold with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies.

The dynamic duo — not yet legally able to drink — arrived on the scene in 2018. They combined forces with Freeman and quickly signed below-market extensions with GM Alex Anthopoulos (installed after Coppolella was banned from baseball for violating rules around international amateurs). The franchise has not missed the playoffs since.