When the report surfaced late Sunday night that the 49ers were shopping quarterback Colin Kaepernick, it was, no doubt, a shocker.

But impossible to believe? Not quite.

Consider: Kaepernick is coming off a so-so season and has lost his biggest advocate in Jim Harbaugh, the coach who pushed to draft him, decided to start him and is probably still shouting his praises to strangers in Ann Arbor.

On Wednesday, general manager Trent Baalke was asked about the notion that he’s not quite as smitten with Kaepernick as his former head coach. That is, Baalke’s made it clear the 49ers aren’t trading Kaepernick this offseason, but what about, say, in 2016, Trent? After all, have we ever heard Baalke bellow that Kaepernick is “great with a capital G,” or offer similar over-the-top hosannas?

“The assumption that Kap was Jim’s guy? Kap was our guy,” Baalke said. “And I think Jim would say the same thing if you called Jim and asked him.”

Baalke said Harbaugh “pushed hard” for the 49ers to trade up to draft Kaepernick in 2011 and they were in lockstep with the move. Like Harbaugh, he was a huge Kaepernick fan four years ago and he insisted his feelings haven’t changed.

On Wednesday, Baalke was asked what he liked about Kaepernick. He suggested the question was outlandish: “Do I really have to answer that?” he said.

The he answered: “There’s a lot of things I like about Kap. And there’s a lot of things this organization likes about Kap. It’s really - I don’t want to say a foolish question … The guy is talented football player. He can impact a game with his arm, with his feet and he’s done it a consistent level. We’ve won a lot of playoff games with him. We’ve won a lot of football games with him. And we look forward to winning a lot more with him. He is our quarterback.”

After issuing a statement debunking the trade rumor Sunday night, Baalke offered a similarly forceful denial Wednesday.

“There has not been a discussion with another team regarding Kap,” he said. “We have not made a call, nor has anyone called us. So the report that was pushed out there … was false. One-hundred percent false … There has been absolutely none. No conversations. With any team. Regarding our quarterback. Period. Exclamation point.”

Twitter: @Eric_Branch