Atlanta Braves: The First Fruits Of A Rebuild

The months following the 2014 season saw our Atlanta Braves commit to what became a total organizational rebuild. Now, as we move into the middle of a surprisingly decent season, Braves fans are beginning to experience the first fruits of that effort.

On November 17, 2014 our Atlanta Braves announced they had traded Jason Heyward to the St. Louis Cardinals. The trade was painful in that most fans loved Heyward and planned to never see him in another team’s colors.

Still, the reality was that Heyward was a year away from free agency, guaranteed to sign a large contract, and had failed to materialize the numbers to justify a mid-revenue team opening the wallet so wide.

Most pundits and fans (including this one), at the time, thought the move made sense because “surely” it meant that we would re-sign Justin Upton, the other, much more productive pending free agent. Wrong. Upton was traded on December 19th to San Diego.

It was at this point that we all knew what we were in for. Any would be expensive player close to arbitration or free agency would be traded in exchange for prospects. The one team we have with a legitimate culture of winning was…rebuilding.

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Immediately we began scurrying the roster looking for pieces to which we could nail our expectations, and what did we find? A catcher with a cool nickname that mashes, the best closer in the game, and the best defensive short stop this side of Ozzie Smith.

Evan “El Oso Blanco” Gattis hit bombs, eschewed the soft belly provisions of modern baseball like batting gloves, and was 4 years away from even commanding arbitration dollars. “Surely” he was safe. Wrong. The White Bear was traded to Houston not even a month after Justin Upton.

After the Braves shipped Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr to San Diego on the eve of the 2015 season, we were all left with one pleasurable assurance; At least we will get to watch Andrelton Simmons play short stop for the duration of his very club friendly deal. Wrong. November 11, 2015 brought Simmons’ trade to the Angels and the death of all hope across Braves Nation.

There were plenty of other moves made along the way, but those five trades represent an awful lot of love leaving Atlanta. After all, it is one thing to watch your team trade away players you love because everyone knows they cannot pay them, but it is another thing altogether to listen to John Hart explain to you why players as young, exciting, and budget friendly as were Gattis and Simmons needed to be sent away.

Pragmatically, the other trades made sense. Heyward had not shown us he was worth the money it was going to take to keep him. It made no sense to pay Justin Upton without having a winner built around him. And, it really made no sense to pay a closer through a rebuild, especially when moving the one you had meant ridding us of the millstone that was Melvin Upton Jr’s contract.

But, the Gattis and Simmons trades especially hurt because we could have kept them. They did not “have” to go, and such is the anguish of watching your team go through a tear-down. That is, to say, the decent into the “valley of the shadow of rebuilding”.

So, here we are in early July 2017, and I am ready to say that the time for hopelessness is over. I believe we are now beginning the trek upward, out of the valley, and on toward the mountain top because we are seeing those two most painful trades come to bare.

Two of the pieces we received in exchange for Gattis were Mike Foltynewicz and Rio Ruiz. This season we are watching Folty turn from a prospect into a legitimate big league starter. Ruiz, on the other hand, has spent time with the big club and is currently baking some more in Gwinnett, due largely, to the emergence of Johan Camargo. However, he has at least proven this far that his ceiling is high, and his floor is as a solid big league role player.

And then there is Sean Newcomb. When the Braves traded Andrelton Simmons, we got a year of Erick Aybar, another pitching prospect, and the Angels’ top pitching prospect named Sean Newcomb. In just four starts, he has stabilized our rotation and demonstrated that he will be a phenomenal big league starter.

What we are seeing right now in the maturation of players like Folty and Rio, and in the revelation of a player like “Newc” is, I believe, the first fruits of what will be a bountiful harvest from this long winter of a rebuild.

Oh, and we turned Jason Heyward into a stellar year of Shelby Miller plus Ender “I can’t believe Arizona included him in that deal” Inciarte and Dansby Swanson.

Lift your head Braves fan, though losing endureth for a night, winning comes in the morning!

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