Written by Joe Lucia at The Comeback
For the third time in two years, the Atlanta Braves have made a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that is being widely regarded as a complete and utter robbery. The Braves traded starting pitcher Shelby Miller and reliever Gabe Speier to the Diamondbacks for a package of just three players – outfielder Ender Inciarte, pitcher Aaron Blair, and shortstop Dansby Swanson, the #1 overall pick in this past June’s MLB Draft.
Hearing from multiple sources Ender Inciarte, Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson are involved in the Shelby Miller deal.
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) December 9, 2015
The first robbery came in January of 2013, when the Braves acquired Justin Upton and Chris Johnson from Arizona for Nick Ahmed, Randall Delgado, Brandon Drury, Martin Prado, and Zeke Spruill. Prado and Spruill have already moved on from the Diamondbacks, while Delgado has spent the bulk of the last two years as a reliever for Arizona and Ahmed entrenched himself as a light-hitting shortstop for the club. Drury is the last wild card left in the trade, a 23-year old who made his major league in 2015 coming off a year in which he hit five homers with a .756 over 130 games between AA and AAA.
The second robbery came this past June, when the Braves essentially bought top 100 pitching prospect Touki Touissant from the Diamondbacks. They traded utilityman Phil Gosselin to Arizona in the trade while also taking on the remaining cash on Bronson Arroyo’s contract. Gosselin is what he is – a bench bat, while Touissant is still just 19 and was Arizona’s first round pick (16th overall) in 2014.
And now, there’s this trade – the third robbery. In exchange for three years of Shelby Miller and relief prospect Gabe Speier (himself acquired by the Braves earlier this offseason in the Cameron Maybin trade with the Tigers), Arizona gave up starting left fielder Ender Inciarte, pitching prospect Aaron Blair, and shortstop prospect Dansby Swanson. It’s a hefty package – one major league caliber player, and two top 100 prospects – for a pitcher in Miller, who is a good (but not great) starter.
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