Atlanta Braves finish a six-month-old trade
Okay, I admit it… I had forgotten about this completely. But today was the deadline.
The Atlanta Braves completed their trade for Brandon Phillips today. Seriously.
Once upon a time… February 12, 2017 to be exact… Phillips was made a member of the Braves. That deal did have some additional elements to it, namely that Andrew McKirahan and Carlos Portuondo went to the Cincinnati organization… and there was a player to be named later that was to come back to Atlanta… along with a $13 million check.
“Players to be named later” are required to be ‘named’ within six months of the original agreement. Today is the last day.
Today the Reds send minor league 1B Kevin Franklin to Braves as PTBNL to complete the 2/12/17 trade of Brandon Phillips.
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 11, 2017
This is a 22 year old corner infielder drafted in 2013 in the 2nd round (67th overall), so you might think there’s some upside for him, but thus far, Franklin hasn’t shown it… he’s been mired in the lower reaches of the Cincy farm system since signing up.
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This season? batting .150 in 13 games of A+ ball after .205 in 14 games of low-A after not getting on the field until late June. An OPS of .365 isn’t exactly showing “upside”.
But that ties up the loose end of a deal that the Reds will probably be glad to call an end to. despite Phillips’ nagging injuries, he’s still hit .285 this year, recording 1.3 fWAR, a .737 OPS and 94 wRC+.
That easily bests the player that Cincy was trying to make space for: Jose Peraza, who is sporting a .261/.295/.330/.625 slash line… with 62 wRC+ and 0.1 fWAR (most of that thanks to a decent defensive rating).
Of all trades the Coppy has made, this one has thus been absurdly lopsided, and it really didn’t take very long to see the results.
But Kevin Franklin is now a Brave, and we’ll see how that goes for him behind a Tomahawk.