5 Best and 5 Worst Trades of the Atlanta Braves Rebuild: Part 2

1. Braves don’t trade Jason Grilli

Ok, I cheated a bit here but if you follow my logic, I think you’ll see it still falls within the spirit of the exercise. The Braves signed Grilli to a team-friendly 2 year/$8M contract before the 2015 season and he spent the first half of that season re-establishing himself as one of the best relievers in the game.

Atlanta had a serious trade chip on their hands.

That chip, of course, would never be cashed in. Grilli tore his achilles in a game in Colorado in mid-July and effectively ended his season.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear; I am NOT blaming the Atlanta Braves for Jason Grilli’s injury. It was a freak injury and was no one’s fault.

So why is he on this list?

Well, holding onto valuable players around the trade deadline is basically a big game of chicken. If you trade them early, you risk not getting the best possible return. If you wait until the deadline, you risk the chance of a serious injury and getting nothing. Every GM knows this.

With Grilli, the Braves rolled the dice, held onto to him into July, and he got hurt. Was it their fault he got hurt? Absolutely not. But when you knowing gamble and lose, you take some of the blame. Even when it’s just bad luck.

[ Ed. note:  once Grilli was finally dealt, it was for RHP Sean Ratcliffe… who literally didn’t last the year in the Braves’ system while Atlanta even paid Toronto nearly all of the remaining dollars on Grilli’s 2016 contract, minus the pro-rated league minimum. ]

1. Braves trade SS Andrelton Simmons to Los Angeles(Angels) for SS Erick Aybar, SP Sean Newcomb, and SP Chris Ellis.

This trade is on the list for a simple reason. I believe Andrelton Simmons is a valuable asset and, in my opinion, Atlanta did not receive equal value in return when they traded him. That concept, while simple in its idea, is made up of two somewhat complicated parts:

• How valuable is Simmons
• How valuable was the return

For Simmons, if you don’t value defense, then he’s an easily replaceable piece and really isn’t worth talking much about. I, obviously, value defense a great deal, especially at SS, and see him as a perennial 3 Win player regardless of what the bat does. And if that ever comes, he’s an MVP candidate.

For the return, it really comes down to what you think about Newcomb since he was the principal piece of the deal and he’s the only one left in the organization. And I’ve just never been a Newcomb fan.

His stuff, of course, is elite but if you can’t control where you’re throwing it, it doesn’t really matter how good your stuff is. He’s like a hitter with 80 power but can’t make any contact.

But it’s not just the control, it’s that there’s no easy way to fix it. Keith Law recently talked about why Newcomb dropped in his rankings and he mentioned the delivery. It’s really smooth and easy. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing but if the delivery is good and the control is bad, there’s not an obvious path to fixing it.

If Newcomb can’t figure out his control then he has no future in Major League Baseball and Atlanta traded away a fan favorite and once-in-a-generation defensive SS with absolutely nothing to show for it. No pressure kid.

[ ed. note:  note this update after the post was submitted ]