Why Did the Atlanta Braves Trade Wood… and Peraza?

World infielder Jose Peraza (4) beats the throw to USA first baseman D.J. Peterson (left) in the first inning during the All Star Futures Game at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

 Jose Peraza

We have speculated a lot about Peraza’s future on this site over the past 6-12 months.  He came up as a shortstop and was moved to second base once Andrelton Simmons became a long-term fixture.  While he can handle the SS position, Peraza’s arm works even better at this spot in the infield, so that made sense.

What the Braves weren’t counting on, though, was the emergence of a second baseman that they didn’t even have on the roster until January.

Jace Peterson is starting to look like the second coming of Marcus Giles:  a good situational hitter, a good hitter period, and a solid defender that you can count on day after day.  He probably doesn’t have Giles’ 10-15 homer capability in him (last night notwithstanding), but there’s certainly enough pop to drive balls into gaps with consistency.

Peraza doesn’t possess that kind of bat, though oddly, he has managed 4 homers in AAA this year – a career high.  Peraza’s game is about BABIP:  getting the ball into play from foul line to foul line and letting his 70-rated legs do the rest.  His steal rate scales to roughly 35-40 in the majors and he rarely strikes out, but his walk rate is outright anemic.

There were ideas about how to use Peraza:

• Centerfield.  That happened for 13 games, and then Mallex Smith was called up.  Experiment over (reportedly not great on routes).
• Move Jace to third base.  Might have worked, but doing so would have eliminated one more lineup slot where the Braves could use a bigger bat.

So:  trade bait.  Sell high, even as scouts were getting mealy about his ceiling and organizational value.

For the Dodgers, they will dump Jimmy Rollins at years’ end and plug Peraza in to start 2016.  He’s perfect for them, OBP aside.

Next: The Hector Olivera Q&A