Andrelton Simmons on the Move?

Andrelton Simmons is one of the last few big trade pieces the Atlanta Braves have. Would the team part ways with their outstanding defensive shortstop?

The GM Winter Meetings are under way and the Atlanta Braves made some interesting noise late last night about the potential availability of SS Andrelton Simmons. According Atlanta Braves reporter of MLB.com Mark Bowman, Atlanta is entertaining the idea of possibly moving Simmons to an NL West club, essentially testing the waters to see if the Braves can get a lucrative return.

It seems that the two teams in the NL West that are the most interested in Andrelton Simmons are the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Atlanta has already orchestrated blockbuster trades with both Western rivals last year. So it seems the relationships between Atlanta and those clubs are good ones.

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Arizona and Colorado could make some sense for Atlanta, as the Braves’ best deal last year was with the Diamondbacks to acquire Touki Toussaint. The Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants haven’t made a trade with each other in decades. Perhaps its bad blood from 1993 or something we don’t know about. Besides, the San Francisco Giants already have a stellar shortstop in Brandon Crawford, who won this year’s Gold Glove and is at this point a better hitter than Andrelton Simmons.

For as unbelievable as he is in the field for the Atlanta Braves, Andrelton Simmons is an incredibly frustrating player at the plate. So many pop-ups to short and embarrassing swings that he loses balance on. Atlanta apparently has a gifted defensive players in Simmons, but a consistently inconsistent hitter in the box. That’s fine because Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel had similar limitations early in their illustrious careers.

The interesting part of these trade rumors is that Simmons is on the table in the first place. I get the notion that nobody was untouchable on the Atlanta Braves club, but I really began to think that none of the Core Four (1B Freddie Freeman, SP Shelby Miller, SS Andrelton Simmons, and SP Julio Teheran) were going anywhere.

Surely, if Atlanta got an unbelievable deal for any of the Braves’ All-Star caliber players, I wouldn’t shock me to see GM John Coppolella strike while the iron’s hot. All four players are either in their prime as big leaguers or are certainly on the way there.

What these early winter meetings are telling us is that the Atlanta Braves organization will continue to make numerous moves to try to improve their ball club. However at some point, stockpiling pitchers that immediately need Tommy John surgery will start to get old, if it isn’t already. The team still needs to field a competitive club at least up until the trade deadline, so that Coppolella and his staff can get more should they want to make more deals in late July.

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Personally, I wouldn’t want to see Andrelton Simmons leave unless the Atlanta Braves get at minimum Top 3 prospect from the Dodgers organization, as well as a suitable big leaguer to become a warm body until any number of youngsters are ready for the show. I feel that the Braves took much of what San Diego had to offer last offseason. Unless the Atlanta Braves want Major League players for Andrelton Simmons, a potential deal with the LA Dodgers makes the most sense. That doesn’t mean that I want it or should it happen.