265 and was named Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.
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The Braves have traded shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the Angels, CBSSports Major League Baseball Insider Jon Heyman has confirmed. According to Fan Graphs’ Simmons has saved 71 more runs defensively than the second-best at the position. 300 in two of the last three seasons. Simmons put up a solid 101 OPS+ in 182 plate appearances as a rookie in 2012 and hit 17 home runs in his first full major league season in 2013.
“I have had the opportunity of watching Erick Aybar from afar, and have great respect for his contributions to the Angels”.
Seriously, Simmons could save 5 runs a game, but the way this offense churned out runs, it wouldn’t matter.
The 6-foot-2 Simmons has a career. Probably the best defensive shortstop in baseball. The thing is that defense tends to fail with age. At the way he’s playing right now, that deal is a bargain.
The Braves of the 70’s annihilated their farm system in hopes to have a couple of good years. I mean, if Newcomb develops as expected, they’ll wind up looking fantastic in three years. Did the Braves get more than the A’s got for three months of Scott Kazmir? But so long as Major League Baseball and the Players Association are OK with the strip-down and draft-up strategy, it is a time-honored path to success, especially for small-market and mid-market teams. Now to be fair, the number-two prospect in the Angels system is akin to the fifth or sixth guy in another organization’s system. He also bats left-handed, which is the Angels preference. He’s a wild card, a lottery ticket, pick your metaphor.
As far as the rest of what the Braves got: Aybar is under control for one more season at $8.5 million, making him an older, more expensive Ruben Tejada.
Tejada, 26, hit. 261 and provided better defense than Flores at shortstop.
While no deal appears imminent, much of the GM meetings were spent gauging other teams’ needs and checking in with representatives of potential fits in free agency.
Now the Braves are trying to follow the Royals’ recent path. The Yankees ended up acquiring Didi Gregorius to play shortstop and that worked out pretty well. But Andrelton Simmons isn’t exactly a one-year proposition – he was poised to be a primary cog for his team for the next half-decade. Personally, I doubt it was the contract… He signed a seven-year, $58 million deal back in 2013. Newcomb, in particular, is an intriguing get, as MLB.com ranks him the No. 19 prospect in the game.
Newcomb and Ellis just add to the stable of very good pitching prospects the Braves have to go along with the likes of Touki Toussaint, Max Fried, Kolby Allard, Tyrell Jenkins, and Lucas Sims, the latter coming off an outstanding Arizona Fall League. But it’s an unfortunate nickname and the one I have been lobbying for – “Ford” – has fallen flat after many efforts to establish as an acceptable alias.
Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds outfielder.
Williams was Washington’s manager for two seasons. Omar Vizquel just might make the Hall of Fame because of his fielding, and it’s possible – probable? – that Simmons is better still.
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“They should arrange a few sort of presentation and show how it can really pay off, if you’re patient”, said the executive. Now, they have to make sure it isn’t their last. That much talent is a good problem to have, but good problems are still problems. And they’ll need to do so during a sweet spot, when those pitchers are both healthy and effective. 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?). Freddie Freeman might deliver similar value to Joey Votto, but he’s not a team in himself. Could someone ask the Mets how that worked for them? If the Mets never had Lucas Duda at all, they wouldn’t have been as effective. A lot of things had to go right. They’ll move into their new ballpark in 2017 but the team moving in there isn’t going to be any good. The Angels gave their future starters for a defensive shortstop that is best in the game and can stay in California for a long time.
