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Trade grades: Atlanta Braves pay steep price but get big return in Oakland A's 1B Matt Olson

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

The trade: Braves acquire 1B Matt Olson from the A's for CF Cristian Pache, C Shea Langeliers, RHP Ryan Cusick and RHP Joey Estes

Baseball is designed to break your heart, former commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti once wrote. Indeed, our favorite players get old, they get waived, they get traded -- and sometimes they leave in free agency. This trade certainly signifies the departure of Freddie Freeman, a franchise icon for the Braves since 2010, MVP winner, five-time All-Star and World Series champion, so it's understandably a trade of mixed emotions for Braves fans. They'll miss Freeman ... but I think they'll come to love Matt Olson.