Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Rewriting Results for Therapy

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Jul 1, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Shelby Miller reacts as he leaves the game in the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Shelby Miller deal bringing mixed returns to Atlanta Braves in 2016 season

KELLAN OLSON / ARIZONASPORTS.COM

The overwhelming consensus after the Arizona Diamondbacks traded former No. 1 overall MLB Draft selection Dansby Swanson, Aaron Blair and Ender Inciarte to the Atlanta Braves for Shelby Miller was a win for Atlanta.

More from Tomahawk Take

While trades are never decided less than 100 games into the first season of the deal, this trade has brought mixed results to the Braves despite the unanimous approval.

The crowned jewel of the deal, Swanson, has been as advertised thus far in the minors.

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The other two players, however, have struggled immensely for the MLB club.

Inciarte, the most MLB-ready of the three, has followed up his .303 average in 2015 for Arizona by hitting only .235 with one home run and 11 RBI as of Tuesday. The Gold Glove-caliber outfielder has done his part fielding-wise though, marking a higher .982 fielding percentage in center field for Atlanta than his .979 mark in center for the 2015 D-backs.

The 25-year-old has had two trips to the disabled list because of a hamstring issue.

Despite the lows for Inciarte, the heralded pitching prospect Blair has had the worst struggles of the two for Atlanta. His debut MLB season has been a nightmare, going winless in his 11 starts and allowing 45 earned runs in 50.2 innings.

[ Ed. Note: more at the link above, but I have a couple of things to add here.

This is a thinly-veiled attempt to suggest that the Diamondbacks’ trade with Atlanta didn’t work out that well for Atlanta. And it’s a fairly ridiculous take.

The very first premise is “trades are never decided less than 100 games into the first season”… and then the author proceeds to try to do that very thing.

If you are going to point out the injuries suffered by Inciarte, then you certainly have to mention the longer and more serious injuries by A.J. Pollock – the “one who got away” from the Braves in the initial trade.

If you are going to point out the injuries suffered by Inciarte, then get it right: he’s had just one hamstring DL stint. Gordon Beckham has had two such stays.

Yes – we expected him to be better this year, but having a better supporting cast would help that… and even so, he’s been a top 2 or 3 contributor on the team, for what it’s worth.

Aaron Blair is stalled, not broken… of course we Braves’ fans are sensitive to the “winless” label since we – more than most – recognize that pitcher Wins are a terrible stat. Nonetheless, he’ll be back and he’ll be just fine.

Some in the comments to this piece are trying to paint Swanson as merely an average contributor and not “dominant”. Seriously? If that were the case, you’d have to believe that independent evaluators would be moving him down on the top prospect lists. Instead, he’s still rising.

Meanwhile, Arizona is contemplating the ultimate “sell low”… floating the idea of trading Shelby Miller away. Wow.

Look, I’m as blown away by Miller’s lack of success in Arizona as anyone else. I expected him to pitch well and I expected the DBacks to win a lot this year. But there’s no need to denigrate others in an effort to try and make you feel better about a bad deal. ]

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