Dodgers: Chipper Jones Slams How Freddie Freeman Handled His Free Agency

The Braves Hall-of-Famer was not too pleased with how Freddie Freeman went about his free agency this offseason.

How the Atlanta Braves went about Freddie Freeman's free agency will be discussed at length for years to come. Freeman was a cornerstone piece for the organization. According to the slugger, Atlanta nearly went full radio silence when it came to negotiating a new contract with him. That of course allowed the Dodgers to whisk Freddie away from Atlanta.

The Villa Park native revealed in his introductory press conference that the Braves only contacted him twice during the offseason. Freeman also talked about being completely caught off guard by how Atlanta approached the situation. He went as far to say that he thought he would play for Atlanta for his entire MLB career.

There's at least one high profile baseball icon that strongly disagrees in the manner that Freeman left Atlanta. Braves Hall-of-Famer Chipper Jones was verbose in his assessment of Freddie's decision. The former third baseman believes that Freddie should given the Braves a hometown discount to stay in a familiar situation.

“I do not agree with the way that this was handled on Freddie’s side. If you want to play in Atlanta, you play in Atlanta. You maybe take a little less to be happy and play in a place that is comfortable for you. The second that Freddie told me that he rejected the 5 for $135 [million] after the All-Star break, I told him, ‘You’re playing a very dangerous game. You go out on the free agent market, you get courted by all the pretty girls that are on the block, chances are, you’re not gonna come back. If you take your time waiting on that six-year [deal] into January, [Atlanta] has a job to do.'”

There's two sides to every coin, but the complete lack of communication from the Braves seemingly laid the groundwork for Freeman to sign elsewhere. The Dodgers new first baseman mentioned how Andrew Friedman and the front office frequently contacted him throughout his free agency.

It's always easy to side with the player over the organization, but this does feel like a situation where Atlanta could have made a bigger effort to re-sign Freeman.

Now he's a Dodger and someone's not too chipper about it.