Braves trade J-Hey to Cards for pitcher Shelby Miller

Though the possibility of a Heyward trade was speculated for weeks, it caused shock waves in Braves Country, where Heyward, 25, was a fan favorite whom many hoped the team would build around. Instead, the McDonough native, drafted and developed by the Braves, will continue his career in the shadow of St. Louis’ Gateway Arch.

While he hadn’t reached the superstar level anticipated after his sensational rookie season in 2010 and a 27-homer season in 2012, he was nonetheless a dynamic talent.

Braves president of baseball operations John Hart was convinced Heyward would explore free agency after the 2015 season, and rather than get nothing more than a compensatory draft pick if he left, the Braves traded him to fill a hole in their starting rotation.

Miller, who turned 24 last month, is 26-18 with a 3.33 ERA in 69 games (63 starts) in just over two seasons, with 312 strikeouts in 370 innings. He is a year from arbitration eligibility and will be under contractual control for four seasons. The Braves also think Jenkins, another hard thrower and former Baylor football recruit, could be in their rotation by 2016.

“I think there will be some people who will applaud the deal and some people who are going to be heartbroken,” said Hart, who has been on the job only four weeks but already overhauled much of the front office and traded two of last season’s regulars in two days (second baseman Tommy La Stella was dealt Sunday to the Cubs).

“It’s very difficult to trade Jason Heyward, but this deal was made, I think, to help us not only short term, but long term as we go forward,” Hart said. “I certainly recognize what an outstanding player Jason Heyward is. We’d have loved to have retained him. My sense was that Jason was going to be out on the free-agent market next year.”

“We’re very excited about the players we’re bringing back, the young pitching that we desperately have needed. All winter we’ve talked about this. We spent a lot of time going through a lot of different options before we came to this decision and I think long term — and short term — the Braves are better.”

Heyward, who won his second Gold Glove this season, said the Braves never spoke to him about a contract extension after a brief discussion following the 2012 season in which he said he told former general manager Frank Wren that he hoped to play for the team for many years.

Hart has said since coming in last year — he was a Braves senior adviser for one year — that he never had any indication other than Heyward would go to free agency. Hart said he’s been friends with one of Heyward’s agents, Casey Close, for many years and that he never got word from Close that a long-term deal might be feasible.

“To be honest, the Braves front office are the ones that would have to come to me about a deal, about me being here longer than 2015, for that to actually happen,” said Heyward, who requested and got a two-year, $13.3 million contract in February. He said he asked for such a deal in order to avoid two more rounds of arbitration when it became apparent to him that the Braves weren’t going to offer him a long-term extension.

His modest two-year deal was settled on the day the Braves were kicking off a two-week extension frenzy in which they signed four other young Braves with less service time than Heyward to contracts of four years or more, including a franchise-record eight-year, $135 million deal for first baseman Freddie Freeman, Heyward’s best friend in baseball.

“I threw the two-year deal out on the table because I didn’t want to go through the arbitration process anymore,” Heyward said. “I wanted our next conversation to be about me possibly being in Atlanta for a long time. And that conversation never came about.”

Hart said the Braves believed Heyward would only be willing to sign a long-term extension if it was for more dollars than the team was comfortable paying.

Heyward was set to make $8.3 million this season and arbitration-eligible Walden was projected to make about $3 million. Since Miller made only $521,000 last year and isn’t eligible for arbitration, the Braves saved more than $10 million in the trade, money that Hart could use in the pursuit of a free agent or significant-salaried player to fill another roster hole.

With Heyward gone, left fielder Justin Upton is expected to either move to right field or be traded and catcher Evan Gattis will move to left field, assuming he’s not traded. American League teams in particular are very interested in Gattis, but with his big power and four years until free agency, the Braves will likely keep him unless blown away by an offer.

Hart said there’s a pretty good chance Upton will be with the Braves in 2015, though he’s eligible for free agency after the season. He hasn’t ruled out a long-term extension, but Hart said there have been no significant discussions.

Heyward hit .271 with a .351 OBP and 20 stolen bases in 2014, while posting career lows in home runs (11) and slugging percentage (.384). He has a .262 average and .351 OBP with 84 homers, 63 stolen bases and 292 RBIs in five seasons.

Miller was 10-9 with a 3.74 ERA in 32 games (31 starts) in 2104, and had 127 strikeouts in a career-high 183 innings. He’ll join incumbents Julio Teheran and left-handers Alex Wood and Mike Minor in a Braves rotation that features four young pitchers in various stages of development, led by All-Star Teheran. Minor (26) is the only one older than 24.

“One thing I remember going to (Turner Field) every time,” Miller said on SiriusXM/MLB Network Radio, “you look up at the numbers on the board and I can’t remember the years, but, I mean, they were in the playoffs for a ridiculous number of years in a row with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and [John] Smoltz. I feel like we have the same opportunity to do that with the team they have now.

“The starting pitching is phenomenal. And I can’t wait to pitch with those guys and … get over there, meet my new teammates. [I’m] excited for the opportunity and looking forward to it.”

He made a name for himself as a rookie in 2013, when Miller went 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 173.1 innings for the National League champions. His 1.206 WHIP (walks-plus-hits per inning pitched) was second-best among St. Louis starters that season behind ace Adam Wainwright, also the only Cardinal with more wins.

Miller, who features a 93-96 mph fastball, is 6‐0 with a 2.14 ERA in 10 career September starts.

“This is young man who’s had an great pedigree,” Hart said. “He’s an outstanding (mental) makeup guy out of Texas, a first-round pick who’s always had a good arm, a power arm. In the past couple of years he’s pitched well and improved significantly. As we look at Shelby we realize he has a chance to be a front-of-the-rotation pitcher, but I think where he is in his development we can pitch him in either the 3-hole or the 4-hole and provide us big innings with the chance to move up.”

“Sometimes for young power pitchers it takes a little while for that final little bit of command to come, command of the strike zone. His changeup is something that’s still going to need some work, but I have tremendous confidence in (pitching coach) Roger McDowell. Our scouts love the kid and love the arm. He’s not a finished product just yet, but this is a winning pitcher.”

Jenkins, 22, a supplemental-round pick (50th overall) in the 2010 draft, was 6-5 with a 3.28 ERA in 13 starts for Class-A Palm Beach this year. Braves officials saw him pitch recently in the Arizona Fall League, where he had a 2.22 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings over six starts.

Walden was 4-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 108 appearances over two seasons with the Braves, with 116 strikeouts in 97 innings. He had a 2.88 ERA in 58 appearances in 2014. He became more exendable after the Braves got hard-throwing prospect Arodys Vizcaino from the Cubs in the La Stella deal, but Vizcaino needs to stay healthy and keep developing after missing two seasons (2012-2013) following Tommy John surgery and setbacks.