From Tyler Kepner, one of the best scribes in the business:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/sp...haul.html?_r=0
One rival general manager, who was granted anonymity so he could analyze another team’s deal, called the Toussaint trade the most interesting in baseball this decade. In contrast with other trades in which big money changes hands, the major leaguers in this deal were almost incidental to the value the Braves placed on a prospect.
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“Going into next year, we feel like we’ll have nine starting pitchers who can fight for jobs,” said Coppolella, the 37-year-old assistant general manager, who is considered Hart’s eventual heir. “So we’re trying to build as much upside, impact pitching, as we can, and to see where we’ve come in such a short time is really exciting. This is just the start.”
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The Braves extended the contracts of all their coaches and Manager Fredi Gonzalez this month as a show of faith in a time of transition. They also used some of the savings from their trades to stock the lower levels of the farm system.
“We said, ‘O.K., we’ve got a little bit of excess cash,’ ” Hart said. “A lot of teams will spend it right away, but because of some of the deals we made, we saw it as an opportunity.”