Shelby to AZ for E. Inciarte, A. Blair, and Dansby Swanson

[clvclv]

Of course Bowman's scoop would involve a few scoops of chicken-salad.

Not to mention the fact that the rest of the world has known that the two of them had lunch together since around 4:00 yesterday - had been mentioned more than a few times on XM and MLB Network. Bowman must've tweeted that when he got back from the midnight buffet to watch the second rerun of MLB Tonight (to dig for "info") while getting ready for bed.

[CrimsonCowboy]

[Dunit24]

Amazing

[CrimsonCowboy]

I remembered this photo from the prior deal back in the season. Seems appropriate again:

[sc1767]

Certainly can't complain about this one, on the face of it it looks great. I hope Miller works out for them so they will come back for more.

[The Chosen One]

Thank god Coppy got it right and got Swanson instead of Sampsonite.

[Carp]

True. But he's not the centerpiece of this trade. The players coming back from AZ in value are Swanson, Blair then Inciarte.

The idea that pitching is more valuable than hitting right now just isn't a good argument IMO. Would anyone trade Trout for Price? Harper for Greinke?

Baseball cycles. Right now pitching is more plentiful than hitting. That doesn't mean pitching is not valuable but it's less valuable than good hitting.

Those are poor examples though. Price and Greinke are not the top two best pitchers in baseball. For comparisons sake, you're talking about probably Kershaw and Arrieta/Wainwright/Fernandez (harder to find the 2nd best pitcher in baseball). I wouldn't trade any of those pitchers for any MLB equivalent less than Trout/Harper either.

[Carp]

Thank god Coppy got it right and got Swanson instead of Sampsonite.

Awesome

[nsacpi]

Coppy versus Stewart reminds me of Foreman Frazier. Down goes Frazier!

[nsacpi]

Dansby is closer to the show, so he should get the first chance to stick at short. I would just see how it works out from there. If Dansby is proving to be a solid SS when Albies comes up, you move Albies.

I would guess both will start the season in Carolina.

[Tapate50]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/1...ler-trade.html

Around the league reactions

[Krovahn]

Thank god Coppy got it right and got Swanson instead of Sampsonite.

Really? I was way off.

[striker42]

This is a terrific trade for the Braves but I think the criticism of this trade has gotten a little hyperbolic. This isn't one of the worst trades in the history of the game or anything like that. In fact, the reasoning on the part of the D-Backs is pretty good.

Arizona is seeing a championship window open. They have Goldschmidt entering his prime. They have Pollock under control for a couple more years. They just signed Grienke. And their offense overall is one of the best in the game. When you add Miller to slide into the rotation after Grienke, you can shift Corbin, De La Rosa, and Ray all down a slot. That improves every one of those spots. Their staff has gone suddenly from shaky to a strength of their team. Pair it with their offense and they're going to win a lot of games.

They're swimming in outfielders out there so they can easily handle the hit of losing Inciarte. They can slide Tomas in fairly seamlessly there.

Losing Blair thins their starting pitching depth a little but he was a good bet to start the year in AAA and, barring injury, wasn't going to have a spot.

Miller also has some ceiling left. He might settle in as an excellent number 2 starter but if that cutter stays as nasty as it was last year and he can refine his arsenal at all, he could be really special. He's still young.

But here's the most important thing. They now have Miller under control for 3 years at a bargain price. Look at the contract Samardzija got. $90 million over 5 years for a 30 year old. Shelby is a good bet to be a better pitcher over the next three years and by a not insignificant amount. Getting Miller's production at his price gives them great financial flexibility.

This is a move that makes their major league team much better. Yes they gave up a huge amount of talent to get him but there is a logic to it for them. I don't think Fernandez was a legitimate option and there wasn't really anyone else that would give you Miller's production at his price.

It was a clear overpay but one that will be clearly worth if if the D-Backs can mount a deep playoff run.

[thewupk]

We really should trade with Arizona more often.

Yeah. Seems they are the one team that still doesn't get it. The fact that the Cubs were supposedly offering Soler or Baez and then they get this from the DBacks says a lot about them. Coppy playe this really well.

[thewupk]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/1...ler-trade.html

Around the league reactions

I think this trade has less to do with how valuable pitching is right now on the trade market or Miller in particular and how dumb the DBacks FO is. Coppy found the idiot in the room.

[Deester11]

I'm skeptical of that arm grade on Albies, though. Based on that clip of Swanson, I would say Swanson definitely has the stronger arm. I've always been slightly concerned about Albies not fully maximizing his value at SS because of his arm. I think he can play SS with it, but I think he's a better fit for 2B.

I've watched Albies all of last year and if you haven't watched him, it's no stretch to say he can pick it at short. He gets to balls behind second base easily. IF he had Andrelton's Howitzer, he'd be "mini-Simmons". That being said he should remain at SS until we have to make a decision. No Peraza like moves yet. Albies arm is not that bad, and it's not just "good enough" either. Some of those plays in the video by Swanson shows good arm strength. Either way, our middle infield should be nice for years.

[dak]

I think this trade has less to do with how valuable pitching is right now on the trade market or Miller in particular and how dumb the DBacks FO is. Coppy found the idiot in the room.

Agreed. I don't think this trade tells us much about the market one way or the other. It's a big-time outlier.

[clvclv]

One take...

https://whensidslidcronies.wordpress...2/09/home-run/

[dak]

This is a terrific trade for the Braves but I think the criticism of this trade has gotten a little hyperbolic. This isn't one of the worst trades in the history of the game or anything like that. In fact, the reasoning on the part of the D-Backs is pretty good.

Worst of all time has to be the Babe Ruth trade. As far as the evaluation at the time of the trade, this ARI deal would certainly be a contender though for worst trade in the past 10 years. Dave Cameron mentioned the Erik Bedard trade as a comp.

[striker42]

Worst of all time has to be the Babe Ruth trade. As far as the evaluation at the time of the trade, this ARI deal would certainly be a contender though for worst trade in the past 10 years. Dave Cameron mentioned the Erik Bedard trade as a comp.

I wouldn't even go that far. This was a clear overpay but supply and demand kind of dictated that price. The supply of young, cheap starters that can do what Shelby can is low and Arizona's desire to make a run made their demand inelastic. As a result the price was quite high. In the end you can see why this trade makes sense for the D-Backs and so it's not ridiculously bad.

The ridiculously bad trades are those that leave you scratching your head as to why one of the teams would do it. Like the Touki trade last year. I'd even put the Braves trade for Olivera as worse than this deal for the Diamondbacks. Olivera just made so little sense for the Braves.