The 2016 season will be the Braves’ last at Turner Field, as they move to SunTrust Park in suburban Cobb County in 2017. This deal while unfortunately causing them to give up Simmons provided them with a few of the pitching that is necessary to make this change. Though El Oso Blanco was another fan favorite, his shoddy defense and penchant for injury made it clear that Evan Gattis should DH in the American League, which brought over more prospects in return. Atlanta has a history with the Padres, previously dealing Justin Upton and Craig Kimbrel to San Diego last offseason.
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Briceno was ranked as the 25th best prospect in the Braves’ system and their second ranked catching prospect. “Enough” means basically every marketable player in the majors and minors the trading club has. With the Chicago Cubs, Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro remained with the team. With the NL Champion NY Mets, they built around David Wright and Lucas Duda, while also signing bats like Curtis Granderson. With the Atlanta Braves, it no longer seems as if this is just a simple rebuild; but rather, scorched earth. While I’m certainly inclined to just chalk this up to front office talk – like when we heard about competing as soon as 2017 – others might buy in.
Simmons represents a gargantuan improvement for the Angels defensively at that position. Even though his pedestrian offense frustrated many, he compensated by flashing his leather night in and night out.
For the Angels, those two pitchers, plus $2.5 million to offset the 2016 salaries of Simmons and Aybar, were well worth acquiring a player who is indeed the best defensive shortstop in baseball and is under contract for just $54 million through his age-30 season in 2020 (an average annual value of $10.8 million). If he happens to produce a little more offensively, then that would be all the better for the Angels.
The young pitchers – Newcomb, a 22-year-old left-hander, was considered the Angels’ top pitching prospect; Ellis is a 23-year-old right-hander – can continue to develop and potentially help a pitching staff that registered a 4.41 team ERA last season. This line of thinking is not insane, but rather misguided. 244 with six HR and 49 RBI and in 2015, the Curacao native hit.
Prospects are not sure thing, no matter how highly touted. Though Ozzie Albies is well-regarded, there is no guarantee that he will ever pan out in the way the Atlanta Braves expect (Christian Bethancourt, anyone?). They got a big arm in Sean Newcomb.
Most people would wonder why the Braves would ever move Simmons, but the reason is really clear.
After getting boxed out of the playoffs by the Rangers and Astros, the Angels are going for it. They already had one of the least talented farm systems in baseball, and now it is absolutely barren. The guy projects as a stud in the rotation, and has the body type to fulfill those lofty expectations.
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“While it feels wrong to nitpick an athletic 6’5” lefty with a four-pitch mix that runs up an easy 97, the main knock on Newcomb one year into his pro career has been his control.
