As Major League Baseball's GM Meetings continue to kick off this year's offseason, there has already been plenty of rumors about potential players on the move and deals that could be made. Now we have the first big deal of the offseason, with the Atlanta Braves sending shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the Los Angeles Angels.
Jonah Keri reported on Wednesday that the Atlanta Braves were talking to an NL West team about a trade involving Simmons. The report progressed and led to ESPN's Buster Olney reporting this morning that the Angels had expressed interest in Simmons. Jesse Sanchez was first to report this afternoon that Simmons had been traded to Los Angeles.
For the Angels, they acquire a 26-year-old shortstop under team control through 2020. Simmons is widely regarded for his defense, finishing second across baseball with 25 defensive runs saved, five more than the next closest shortstop Brandon Crawford. Over the past three seasons, Simmons has 94 runs saved, more than 60 more than the next closest shortstop.
Simmons is almost entirely a defensive player, while he hit 17 home runs in 2013, he has hit just 11 combined in the past two seasons and he does not get on base consistently. Simmons has a .292 weighted on-base average during his career with an 84 wRC+. He will be hitting towards the bottom of the Angels' lineups.
While Atlanta loses a wizard in the field, they will receive a nice short-term replacement at shortstop with the acquisition of Erick Aybar. While he is galaxies away from the defensive-caliber player Simmons is, he is more of a threat when in the batter's box. But the most important return here for Atlanta is the acquisition of pitching prospects Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis.
The left-handed Newcomb was a first-round pick in 2014 and is coming off an excellent 2015 year where he climbed through the ranks, reaching Double-A late in the season, where he made seven starts and held a 2.75 ERA with 39 strikeouts and held opponent's to a .176 batting average. On the year he finished with a 2.38 ERA over 27 starts between three levels.
The right-handed Ellis was the Angels' third-round pick in the 2014 draft, but hasn't had quite the same level of success as Newcomb. This year between 26 starts in High-A and Double-A, Harris held a 3.90 ERA with a 132/62 K/BB ratio in 140 2/3 innings pitched.
Newcomb and Ellis were rated as not only the Angels two best pitching prospects, but were rated as their top overall prospects by MLB.com. Atlanta will also receive $3M in cash from the Angels.
This serves as a great deal for Atlanta as they continue to stock a farm system full of exciting, young pitching prospects. While Simmons was a fan favorite, this trade should help the team more in the long-term.
Los Angeles gets an upgrade at shortstop, but it wasn't considered a major need from the outside heading into the offseason. Now with questions already surrounding its rotation's lack of depth, their top pitching prospects are gone and now have added more pressure on spending money this offseason to fill major holes.