What is Inciarte worth? And is he worth keeping?

[Horsehide Harry]

Outside of Baez (who would immediately be on the MLB club at least)... those prospects aren't any better than the ones you mentioned from the Royals... just more quantity and you're adding our best pitcher. Contreras has only had one good year... Almora is only hyped because he was a first rounder, his stats and peripherals are nothing special (his value has dive bombed as he continues to not take the next step... basically the same player as Starling)... he's a top of the order hitter with no speed. Jimenez has potential but is worlds away and hasn't exactly lit the world on fire yet... Candelario is a third baseman with no power and a career OPS under .800 in the minors.

So with that, I don't see any of those prospects being more than 7th or 8th in our top prospect list either... I just don't get the love of Almora and Contreras... they are living on hype and their numbers don't gel. I know we need a catcher eventually, but Contreras isn't exactly an elite prospect... if not for this past year in AA (with a high BABIP), he'd be just another C floundering in the minors that no one knows.

Basically the only upgrade in package you're getting is Baez and a little more quantity, but you're adding an All-Star caliber TOR pitcher.

Also don't see how you could say Ellis is better than Russell... Russell has a much higher ceiling and has much more value, he's just much further away. Ellis is a nice prospect but he's a 3 or 4 at best.

I didn't say Ellis was better than Russell. I said he was better than either Starling or Fuentes. Starling is all hype and has never shown anything to justify it. Fuentes is a spare part.

As for the rest, Baez allows you to do more things. As you say, Almora is probably not ever going to be Mike Trout. He's probably Inciarte with a little more power and less speed. Contreras hit .333 with almost a .900 OPS in the Southern League and is a catching prospect who would instantly be far and away the best catching prospect in the Braves system. Candelario is a 3B prospect who is turning the corner and Jiminez is a 19 yo Soler.

I would be all for getting more. I would be ok with Baez and Soler. But, Tehran, at least right now isn't a TOR starter. He's a 2, maybe 3 on a good team.

Baez would start at short day one. That would allow the trade of Aybar to a team like Pittsburgh or the White Sox. Maybe Aybar to the Pirates for C Reese McGuire or to the White Sox for OF Miker Adolfo and RHP Robinson Leyer.

Then use the money you save by moving Teheran, Aybar and Inciarte to add with what you have left to go pick up a couple of value reclamations such as Latos and Lohse.

 

[zbhargrove]

I didn't say Ellis was better than Russell. I said he was better than either Starling or Fuentes.

As for the rest, Baez allows you to do more things. As you say, Almora is probably not ever going to be Mike Trout. He's probably Inciarte with a little more power and less speed. Contreras hit .333 with almost a .900 OPS in the Southern League and is a catching prospect who would instantly be far and away the best catching prospect in the Braves system. Candelario is a 3B prospect who is turning the corner and Jiminez is a 19 yo Soler.

I would be all for getting more. I would be ok with Baez and Soler. But, Tehran, at least right now isn't a TOR starter. He's a 2, maybe 3 on a good team.

TOR starter is a 1 or a 2... Teheran is most certainly a 2. He pitched very well the second half of the year and was much closer to his old self. It was very clear he was dealing with a minor nagging injury the first part of the year. I mis-read what you said about Ellis... my bad. As far as Contreras, I disagree... his big year so far has been an anomaly and his BABIP was .372! Before last year, he never had an OPS above .743 and that was low A ball. He's fools gold. I think the young catcher we received for Bethancourt actually has just as much, if not more potential than him... just further away. Candelario is not turning any corner... his best season was an OPS in the uper .700's and has shown very little to no improvement. Jimenez a 19 year old Soler? That's stretching things quite a bit... he hasn't come close to what Soler did in the lower minors. He's got potential, but to call him a 19 year old Soler when he hasn't had much success yet is silly. The thing going for him is that he's very young for the stage he's at, though, and would really be the only player in the package besides Baez I'd be interested in. Almora, Contreras, and Candelario are just filler that would struggle to even break our top 10.