Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal 34s34 seconds ago
Andrelton Simmons traded to #Angels, per @JesseSanchezMLB.
Andrelton Simmons traded to #Angels, per @JesseSanchezMLB.
Andrelton Simmons, Jose Briceno traded to Angels for Sean Newcomb, Erick Aybar and Chris Ellis
- Thread starter soxhop411
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Alden Gonzalez @Alden_Gonzalez 28s28 seconds ago
I'm told, thru industry source, that Sean Newcomb, the Angels' top prospect, is headed to Atlanta in the deal. He would be the headline
I'm told, thru industry source, that Sean Newcomb, the Angels' top prospect, is headed to Atlanta in the deal. He would be the headline
Here's the whole trade:
#Braves trade Simmons to #Angels for Newcomb, [Chris] Ellis, Aybar and about $3M
Edit: Tim Brown reports that C Jose Briceno also going to Angels.
#Braves trade Simmons to #Angels for Newcomb, [Chris] Ellis, Aybar and about $3M
Edit: Tim Brown reports that C Jose Briceno also going to Angels.
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Mike DiGiovanna @MikeDiGiovanna 1m1 minute ago
Hearing that #Angels will also be getting a top catching prospect in Simmons/Aybar deal.
Tim Brown @TBrownYahoo 22s22 seconds ago
Appears catching prospect coming to Angels is Jose Briceno
Hearing that #Angels will also be getting a top catching prospect in Simmons/Aybar deal.
Tim Brown @TBrownYahoo 22s22 seconds ago
Appears catching prospect coming to Angels is Jose Briceno
I wouldn't call a 24 year old catcher that put up a 38 wRC+ in high A this year a top prospect.
EDIT: I guess he was a top prospect at some point.
EDIT: I guess he was a top prospect at some point.
Newcomb is a legit ace prospect. He's Jon Lester at this point in his career. Hard throwing with great breaking stuff but has command issues. If he turns those issues around as Lester did he'll be really successful.
Jered Weaver had a rough year for him, but Richards, Santiago, Heaney all pitched well. I think you have to assume Weaver bounces back some, Wilson rebounds after getting his elbow cleaned up and Shoemaker is still there. So I'm not seeing where they had so little pitching last year - they were debating a 6 man rotation when Weaver was slated to come back form the DL. Either way, Newcomb barely got up to AA for 7 starts last year, he's two years away at least, three most likely. Ellis is nothing for them to lament losing.
Simmons is a nice upgrade on Aybar - much younger, much better defensively and will be better offensively going forward. Aybar had one year left, while Simmons is locked up to a very friendly deal through 2020. Briceno seems to be a bit of a lottery ticket, seems to struggle when promoted, then adjust; rinse and repeat.
I think this is a good deal for both sides. Braves have Ozzie Albies in the pipeline, but he's a couple years away and will likely coincide with them returning to respectability a year or two after they move into their news digs. They can trot Aybar out as a warm body and then use stop gaps until Albies is ready or spin other smaller pieces for someone like a Deven Marrero.
I think the most interesting takeaway is that Atlanta seems to be continuing to punt and rebuild and will possibly listen on Teheran coming off a less than stellar year or maybe even Shelby Miller, who only has his three arbitration years left of control.
If I were the Braves I would have waited till after Heyward and Gordon signed and given more concrete value to defensive excellence. As for Newcomb he's been rushed through minors whereas Lester was moved more traditionally. This is the most pessimistic take I've seen ..
So the gold, for the Braves, must lie in the pitching prospects. And the concern about Newcomb is obvious: In 150-1/3 professional innings, he has 82 walks. (Even in college, at the University of Hartford, he walked 75 in 165 innings.)
One scout’s evaluation: “Newcomb will always be a high-pitch-count starter who will end up in the pen because he doesn’t throw quality strikes even though he can touch 96 [mph] and he’s left-handed.”
This, then, would not be the kind of player for which you part with Andrelton Simmons.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/11/12/why-would-the-braves-trade-andrelton-simmons/?postshare=9791447379429078&tid=ss_tw
Meh. I have trouble sometimes with "takes" from anonymous scouts sometimes. You can always find one to support whatever agenda you're promoting. Six months ago we had Gammons quoting a scout as liking Marrero as much as Lindor and we know where that got us.
Law had him ranked 25th overall in his midseason update with this to say:
So it's kind of how much you believe he can refine his command.
As an aside, this is one of those cases where I tend to defer to Law (and why I like him generally over the other guys), because he doesn't just go off of his own takes on guys. I won't go as far as to say he crowdsources, but he's very inclusive of the opinions of a pretty large network of scouts and other sources that he considers when he makes his judgments. He's wrong just as much as the next guy, but I'm not aware of Sickels or Callis (or any of the other bigger names) taking as much outside evaluations into consideration, unless you look at something like BA (who had Newcomb at #37, which is a pretty negligible difference when you get outside the top 15-20 guys in any list).
I'm fairly certain all the big names do this. Sickels will frequently defer judgment on players saying he wants to hear back from other sources, McDaniels (prior to getting hired away from FG) constantly referred to opinions he'd heard from other scouts. Callis came from BA, so I'm sure he networks through the same sources (although the MLB.com lists are all a bit of a joke anyway). If anything, one of the things I like about Sickels in particular is that he's willing to buck the consensus he's hearing about a guy if he has a strong feeling in an opposing direction, as opposed to something like BA which all too often defaults into generic "industry consensus" opinions.
Good to know, I don't have a BA subscription anymore but I used to hate that. I don't mean to say I discount Sickels or Callis at all, they're both great at what they do, just that I know Law is more forthcoming with his methods (in my exposure) and I read him the most, so if there's a conflict I usually default to him. But again, all of them will tell you the difference between #25 and 37 (for instance) really isn't as big as many make it out to be. Only point. But good to know he's not unique in that willingness and method.
Weaver had a bad year but his fastball was down to the mid-80s. If he can get by on deceit, more power to him but I wouldn't bank on a big comeback unless he has surgery or something.
Even if he doesn't get back to being a low 3s ERA guy (which I don't expect), they don't really need him to that guy anymore. Richards and Santiago look to be solid 2s with room to improve and I didn't even mention Skaggs. If Weaver can give them 175 innings of 4ish ball, that's great for them. My point was simply that they have plenty of pitching, trading away an A/AA prospect isn't an issue for them at the moment, at least as far as how it impacts the rotation in the immediate future.