Revisiting the Mark Teixeira and Atlanta Braves trade

Was it worth it?

The question everyone will always ask is at the end of the day, was it worth it?

I guess that depends on how you want to look at it.

As we all know, the Atlanta Braves were not able to sign Texeira to a long term agreement and he was actually traded to the Los Angeles Angels at the trade deadline in 2008 for Casey Kotchman and Stepehen Marek.

I have long said that this was what made the original deal look even worse. The fact that the Atlanta Braves received nothing back in return (basically) for Teixeira, and yes, I am aware that he only had a couple of months left on his deal. I have always felt the Braves could have gotten more for the return than what they did.

Recapping the players we traded away is obviously a huge part of this analysis as well.

• Beau Jones- Nothing ever came of him
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia- Something is to be said of his longevity, but he never became the player that some had forecasted in his early Atlanta days.
• Neftali Feliz- At one point when he won Rookie of the Year in 2010, it looked as if he was going to be the player that would be the biggest regret, but his career tapered off after a couple of quick years out of the gate.
• Matt Harrison- Harrison had a two year stretch at the turn of the decade where he was one of the better pitchers in the game, including being voted as an All-Star in 2012, but injuries and other factors derailed his career after that.
• Elvis Andrus- No doubt the best player of the deal and the player that has hurt losing the most. He has gone on to have a nice career for the Rangers.

It does certainly look like the Rangers won the deal considering the players above were all key factors in the Rangers World Series visits.

Let’s not discount that then GM John Schuerholz was entering his last days of being the team’s general manager and was going for it and assuredly had the intention of working out a long term agreement with Teixeira.

It did not work for the Atlanta Braves, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes you have to fish for the big fish and hope it works out in the end. This one time, it just simply didn’t for the Atlanta Braves