This post misses several key points. First, when the Teixeira trade was made the Braves were 3.5 games out of first place 2/3 of the way through the 2007 season, despite having a 1B (Scott Thorman) who posted a WAR of -0.9. The Braves knew there was a risk that the players they dealt might one day be productive ML players, but except for Salty, none were ready to contribute in July of 2007. To say we got nothing out of Teixeira is simply not correct. For the last third of 2007 he put up a WAR of 2.0, and as you pointed out, posted a WAR of 6.1 in his 157 games as a Brave. Unfortunately, the Braves pitching nosedived in August, 2007 and despite the marked (pun intended) improvement at 1B, finished 5 games behind.
You mention the 33.8 WAR of the guys who we traded, but you fail to mention the WAR of the guys who were left behind in their positions.
Had he stayed with Atlanta, Salty never would have been more than a backup behind McCann. Since the trade, Corky Miller, David Ross, and Gerald Laird have combined for almost exactly the same WAR as has Salty, despite fewer games and PAs. Harrison had two very good seasons in Texas (2011 and 2012) but had a negative WAR in 08, 09, 10, and 13. Feliz was a good set-up man in 08, and a good closer in 10 and 11, but the guys we had in those years (EOF, Wagner and Kimbrell) were better. For some inexplicable reason the Rangers thought he would be a good starter in 2012, but only last 8 games before he was injured, and was a non-factor in 2013.
Andrus has put up a WAR of 17.1 since he hit the majors in 09, but our SS in that time period have put up a WAR of 16.8, and that included our dreadful SS WAR season of 2012, when Simmons went out injured after 44 games, after he replaced Pastor, and was replaced by Janish, both of whom had negative WARs. If you include the second half of 2007 and 2008, when Elvis was still in the minors, our SS WAR has exceeded theirs since the trade (Esco had a post-trade prorated WAR of 0.8 WAR in 07 and a 3.5 WAR in 08. Point is, that but for the first third of 2012, with Pastor and the last third of 2012 with Janish, we have had better SS play than the Rangers have had with Andrus.
Yes, we could have held our cards and not made the Tex trade, and maybe played those cards in different trades, but the guys we traded were 100% expendable, both in July 2007 and now. You trade from positions of strength to fill weaknesses. That's exactly what the Braves did. We got what we paid for in the trade, great 1B production that we sorely lacked in the first 2/3 of 2007.
The Tex trade was a classic trade of selling future assets that may or may not have panned out in return for a known asset who filled an immediate and glaring need.
While I would never call it a "good" trade for the Braves, it is far from the disaster everyone paints it.