The big news in baseball yesterday was the trade between the Angels and the Braves, Atlanta sending shortstop Andrelton Simmons and minor league catcher Jose Briceno to Anaheim in exchange for pitching prospects Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis.
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Veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski will return for another season with the Atlanta Braves after agreeing to a $3 million, one-year contract. He was named the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday, offsetting his mediocre offensive skills with spectacular work in the field. 265 with four homers and 44 RBIs last season, showing little progress at the plate.
John Manuel at Baseball America tells me his publication immediately moved Newcomb to the No. 1 spot on the Braves prospect list, ahead of the likes of Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, Matt Wisler, Lucas Sims and Hector Olivera, who had been BA’s No. 1-rated Braves prospect last month. If the Angels lose out on the big boppers such as Davis and enter next season with a still-shaky offense, it’s possible this deal will wind up a net loss. “This was a value-for-value trade that had two really good prospects in it”. On a related note, this is the sort of scenario where many years of Statcast™ data would be fun to look at. He’s been the game’s best defensive shortstop according to Ultimate Zone Rating. After rumors began swirling about Andrelton Simmons early yesterday morning, I have to admit, I didn’t think anything would happen, especially not this quickly. Finally, the trade of Craig Kimbrel (perhaps the most hard of all of the Atlanta Braves trades last offseason for fans) is justifiable in that shedding the albatross contract of Melvin Upton Jr. afforded the club with much-needed financial flexibility. At the time we weren’t sure whether he would be a pitcher or a shortstop.
The Braves were obviously sold on Simmons’ defense and were hoping his bat would eventually come around, but it never did. 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. And Heyman tossed out other names, including outfielders Alex Gordon and Jason Heyward, who would continue the defensive trend set by Simmons, as well as second baseman Daniel Murphy.
Here’s the thing, though – building through young pitching is incredibly challenging, as young pitching is still pitching, and therefore amazingly fickle.
Aybar’s $8.5 million salary for 2016 will be reduced to a $6 million total for Atlanta. A left-handed hitter, Bruce has a career.
But with just 4 homers, 23 doubles and 2 triples, Simmons is a one-dimensional player who will likely hit around eighth or ninth in the order. In his brief minor league career, Simmons, a Curaçao native who was drafted out of Wester Oklahoma State College at the age of 21, hit for higher averages (.299 in 1,042 plate appearances) but not with more power (just six home runs) or patience.
Aybar, an All-Star in 2014 and Gold Glove victor in 2011, hit. He is locked up through 2020 and is owed about $43 million.
The 22-year-old also showed significant control problems, but he has already had success at Double A (2.75 ERA, 9.8 K/9 in seven starts to finish the season) and could very easily be a part of the Braves’ rotation in 2017 with a major league debut in late 2016 a distinct possibility.
But times change, of course.
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In the short term, things have gotten a lot worse. And pitchers are practically considered iron men for going 210 innings these days. Bruce will be 29 next season, the last season of his contract with the Reds.
