Justin Upton traded to Braves

[Benihana]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!



The Atlanta Braves have agreed to a trade to acquire outfielder Justin Upton and third baseman Chris Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Randall Delgado, infielder Martin Prado and minor leaguers Nick Ahmed, Brandon Drury and Zeke Spruill, sources tell ESPN.

[CySeymour]

Originally Posted by Benihana

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!



The Atlanta Braves have agreed to a trade to acquire outfielder Justin Upton and third baseman Chris Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Randall Delgado, infielder Martin Prado and minor leaguers Nick Ahmed, Brandon Drury and Zeke Spruill, sources tell ESPN.

With Prado gone, who's going to play 3b for the Braves? Francisco?

[mattfeet]

Chris Johnson is going to the braves, too.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Plus they signed Kate as their lead cheerleader. This is out of control. Upton-overload.

[WildcatFan]

Originally Posted by Blitz Dorsey

Plus they signed Kate as their lead cheerleader. This is out of control. Upton-overload.

They're going to rename Turner Field, Upton Abbey.

[RedsManRick]

The deal is mostly being considered a very good one for Atlanta, but I think partly that reflects an under-appreciation for Martin Prado combined with an under-appreciation for that fact that Upton is about to get quite expensive.

Here are their respective performances over the past 4 years.

PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	rWAR	fWAR
2461	.286	.362	.485	.846	122	13.0	16.7
2434	.294	.342	.436	.778	109	14.9	15.0

Guess who's who? Obviously Upton is younger and has much higher upside. And when you roll in Chris Johnson, who's a nice little corner utility guy with some pop, I'd rather have the package the Braves got than the package the Braves gave up. But I think it's a better deal for Arizona than some are making it out to be.

[klw]

D'Backs saying they expect to extend Prado soon.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/0...end-prado.html

The Diamondbacks expect to sign Martin Prado to a long-term contract extension in the near future, Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com reports (on Twitter). Without the prospect of a long-term deal with Prado, the Diamondbacks wouldn't have completed the trade that sent Justin Upton and Chris Johnson to Atlanta for Prado and four others.

[dougdirt]

I can see what Rick is saying, and heck, I could even see where Delgado breaks out and in the end, the Dbacks get more "value" out of the deal (like how the Padres are very likely to get more "value" from the Latos trade), but I can't look at it right now and not think the Braves easily won this. There is one player in the deal who has superstar abilities and he is signed for less than $13M a season for the next three years. The team that got him is the one that comes out on top.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

I can see what Rick is saying, and heck, I could even see where Delgado breaks out and in the end, the Dbacks get more "value" out of the deal (like how the Padres are very likely to get more "value" from the Latos trade), but I can't look at it right now and not think the Braves easily won this. There is one player in the deal who has superstar abilities and he is signed for less than $13M a season for the next three years. The team that got him is the one that comes out on top.

He definitely has superstar ability, though in four years he's only had two seasons where he was a 'superstar,' so it's really difficult to know if he's going to play like one.

[Scrap Irony]

The Atlanta OF is undeniably the most talented OF in baseball.

If all three players put it together in the same season, they could go for 110 wins in a season. However, that's been a massive "if" for all three guys.

There's something to be said for consistency, both over a season and a career.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Brutus

He definitely has superstar ability, though in four years he's only had two seasons where he was a 'superstar,' so it's really difficult to know if he's going to play like one.

A guy who is 25 with two superstar years under his belt? Yeah, I'll take that.

[powersackers]

This is equivalent to giving up Frazier and Corcino and some minor league throw ins.

[WildcatFan]

Originally Posted by powersackers

This is equivalent to giving up Frazier and Corcino and some minor league throw ins.

More like Bailey and Frazier with Cigriani as one of those "throw-ins," I think. Some folks (Baseball America) seem high on Spruill. And Prado is better and more versatile than Frazier.

[M2]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

The deal is mostly being considered a very good one for Atlanta, but I think partly that reflects an under-appreciation for Martin Prado combined with an under-appreciation for that fact that Upton is about to get quite expensive.

Here are their respective performances over the past 4 years.

PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	rWAR	fWAR
2461	.286	.362	.485	.846	122	13.0	16.7
2434	.294	.342	.436	.778	109	14.9	15.0

Guess who's who? Obviously Upton is younger and has much higher upside. And when you roll in Chris Johnson, who's a nice little corner utility guy with some pop, I'd rather have the package the Braves got than the package the Braves gave up. But I think it's a better deal for Arizona than some are making it out to be.

Prado's a solid citizen, but he's most of the way through his prime and I'll suggest the difference between a 122 OPS+ and 109 OPS+ is the relative difference between excellence and all-rightedness. Guys like Prado help flesh out your team. Guys like Upton form the foundation of good teams. Of the two, Prado strikes me as the one who's about to earn the maximum of what he's worth (and AZ has to extend him or risk losing him to FA after next season).

If Upton puts up the kinds of big seasons he's capable of (e.g. 2011), he'll actually be a bargain.

I don't like what the DBacks got outside of Prado. I thought the Braves needed move one of their Delgadoesque arms for a meaningful bat heading into the offseason. Their offense was really bad last season and Chipper Jones had been their most productive hitter. Trading Tommy Hanson struck me as a bit of a disappointment because he didn't fetch a bat.

As an aside, I'm shocked the Yankees didn't make the move for Upton. This was teed up for them.

[WildcatFan]

Atlanta is shaping up to be quite a team.

The rotation has a couple questions, the shortstop position may not hit at all, and Uggla needs to bounce back in a big way. I expect to see Laird play more than McCann this season, which I have a hunch will actually help the offense. A big step-forward season from B.J. and another decent year from Hudson may be enough to put them over the top.