This is what I get for giving the Braves the benefit of the doubt.
I was wrong; Ken Rosenthal was right.
The Fox Sports writer worried that the Braves were trying to trade Andrelton Simmons as the latest part of their scorched earth rebuild. He wondered: When is it going to end?
I figured the Braves were trying to find a sweet deal for their great-field, light-hit shortstop that netted them major league talents who can hit for power because, you know, they were the worst offensive team in baseball this year. "They won't just give him away" is how I put it.
I won’t say the Braves gave away Simmons to the Angels. They got veteran infielder Erick Aybar, who is an OK stopgap. They also got—spoiler alert!—two top pitching prospects to add to the pile of top pitching prospects they acquired in earlier trades.
But they didn’t get what they need: major league players who can hit. Well, I thought that's what they need because I assumed they intend to at least compete in the final season of Turner Field and then contend in their first season at Cobb Taxpayer Park. These assumptions are becoming more shaky with each veteran-for-prospect swap.
Normally it’s difficult to evaluate trades because you don’t know if there were better options. In this case, though, GM John "Coppy" Coppolella says that about 15 teams inquired about Simmons and four emerged as serious suitors. He says some of those teams assumed the Braves were moving Simmons because of "a lack of offense," which means they must have been willing to send the Braves proven hitters for Simmons. And it’s not as if the Braves were desperate because keeping the best defensive shortstop in baseball and his club-friendly contract would be just fine.
This means Coppy got the deal he wanted. He said he didn't want to trade Simmons but “if we didn’t make this trade it would be tough for us going forward with our plans.” So there you have it: the plans moving forward won’t pay off until far in the future, if at all.
One day, when some of these pitching prospects mature, the Braves may have a formidable starting rotation. They could supplement the pitching by dealing prospects for hitters and with the major payroll increase everyone is convinced is coming, though even that seems up in the air. Writes AJC colleague David O'Brien: "The Braves, one of the bottom-half payroll teams, were determined to upgrade their roster going forward without spending a lot more now."
Now the Braves are without Simmons, one of the players who makes them worth watching until the Grand Plan comes together. Might as well trade Freddie Freeman for prospects, too. The slugger probably wouldn’t mind after the club pulled the rug from under him last season and again with this Simmons deal.
The Braves won’t fool him--or me--again.
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