But it's my guess that as a CF, Heyward's defensive numbers would suffer somewhat and erode his value. I'm not downplaying his defensive value, but corner OF is not a prime defensive position. I want to make it clear that doesn't mean you can stick Ryan Doumit out there and not suffer some fairly obvious consequences, but I don't think Heyward would hold his defensive measures in CF.
I just think Heyward and Close were bent on going to free agency and short of that, trying to put the Braves in a bind by negotiating throughout the 2015 season where every little move would be played out in the press. Braves didn't want to go through that and, truth be told, it would have been a huge distraction to have that hanging over the team's head. I think that is why the move happened relatively quickly.