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

By Stephen Tolbert

Mar 8, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Sean Newcomb (76) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 8, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Sean Newcomb (76) throws a pitch during the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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  1. Braves trade CP Craig Kimbrel and CF Melvin Upton Jr to San Diego for CF Cameron Maybin, SP Matt Wisler, OF Carlos Quentin, OF Jordan Paroubeck and the 41st pick in the 2015 draft.

Ok, so this trade was complicated with a lot of moving parts so I’m going to try to simplify it. For this trade, Atlanta wanted to:

  • Clear a large chunk of payroll, specifically the remaining of Upton’s contract
  • Acquire the 41st pick in the 2015 draft (eventually turned into 3B/1B Austin Riley)
  • Add more young starting pitching depth
  • Acquire a replacement CF

My biggest issue with this trade was the fundamental structure of it. Using Kimbrel’s massive amount of trade value to clear Upton’s contract off the books was, in my opinion, a poor use of resources.

The Braves were knowingly on the verge of full blown rebuild, during which some truly terrible players would play for some truly terrible teams. Why not just let Upton continue to play out his contract and trade Kimbrel for what he was worth in prospects? What was one more terrible player?

If Upton continued to suck, so what, you’re rebuilding anyway. If he remembered how to play baseball again, like he did in San Diego, then even better and you might be able to move him anyways.

Yes the Braves saved $14M in 2015 and $15M in 2016 but those were 95 and 93 loss teams respectfully and with some comically low payrolls. If you gave me the choice between some extra money to spend during a time when the team sucks or 2 or 3 more top prospects that might contribute to the next playoff team, I’ll take the latter every time.

And I say 2 or 3 more top prospects because that’s exactly what Kimbrel was worth. A year later San Diego flipped him for 2 top 50 prospects, and that was with a year less of control than when the Braves traded him.

The one saving grace of this trade – because I’m really not a Matt Wisler fan – could be Austin Riley. While he has some serious concerns of his own, he does have the potential to change the outlook of a trade.

But as it stands now I think Atlanta missed out a tremendous opportunity to bring in even more high level talent in favor of saving some money. You can tell me in the comments below how stupid I am.

  1. Braves Trade SP Alex Wood and 2B Jose Peraza to Los Angeles (Dodgers) for 3B/OF Hector Olivera.

I’m guessing there wasn’t much suspense in which trade was going to be voted the best and probably just as little in which trade was going to be voted the worst.

Olivera was basically a train wreck from the moment he got here from L.A. and amazingly only got worse. The Braves originally tabbed him as a guy who could play 3B for them but after he arrived it was clear he had the lateral quickness of a mailbox so left field was his new home.

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That was ok, though, because the real reason he was brought in was the big bat he was supposed to bring to a power-starved lineup. That worked about as well as the defense did and it became clear the only thing he had any interest or ability in hitting was defenseless women.

Luckily, this piece of trash is no longer in MLB as the Padres outright released him after they acquired him in a bad contract swap with Atlanta for Matt Kemp.

You can probably debate the overall talent level of Alex Wood and Jose Peraza, but they’re still young, cheap big league contributors and that alone makes them miles and miles more valuable than Olivera.

Coppy has already publicly admitted how much he regrets this deal and I can confidently say, of all the trades on this list, this is the one he wants back the most.

Next: Check Out The 5 Best Trades of the Rebuild

Alright Braves fans, there haven’t been many moves to complain about during this process and I had to cheat a little to get to 5 here. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.

“Part 3: Honorable Mentions” drops soon!

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