The Simmons Trade: Good & Bad

[Angelsjunky]

The Good

• Best defensive player in the majors. If you buy into Fangraphs Defensive Runs at all Simmons has 77.5 over the last three years, which is a huge amount more than number two (52.8). He's basically Ozzie Smith.
• He could improve with the bat. As Fangraphs said, if he improves a bit then he's a superstar.
• Oh yeah, five affordable years.
• The pitching staff should benefit, especially ground baller Garrett Richards (who may now be the ace Eppler says he is).

The Bad

• Sean Newcomb is gone - the only really good prospect the Angels had, and the pitcher with the highest upside in the entire organization.
• Too bad about Ellis, but he was more a late rotation type.
• No qualifying offer to Aybar = no draft pick compensation.
• Jose Briceno sucks. He hit .183/.215/.267 in A+ ball last year.

 

OK, losing Newcomb hurts - and could really hurt in a couple years - but even if Simmons doesn't improve, he's still already the second best position player on the team and improves the pitching staff substantially. I'm going to give Eppler the benefit of the doubt on this one. If Newcomb doesn't live up to our high hopes and Simmons improves just a bit, he looks like a genius. Of course if Simmons doesn't hit any better and loses a tick with the glove, and Newcomb fulfills his potential, then....

 

f'n Eppler.

[SoWhat]

Through 4 career seasons:

Andrelton Simmons (499 G)

15.2 dWAR, 113 DRS, 61 TZR

Ozzie Smith (582 G)

10.8 dWAR, 42 DRA, 41 TZR

@HardballStats: #Angels Andrelton Simmons is third among all MLB players with 113 defensive runs saved since 2008. He made his MLB debut on June 2, 2012.

@HardballStats: #Angels Andrelton Simmons is the only player in MLB history to have a 3.5+ defensive WAR in three consecutive seasons (2013-15).

[Turd Ferguson]

I hated the Freese trade and didn't like the Street trade. Strangely, I'm on board with this trade. I do think the Angels overpaid a bit, which is a bummer not because we lost Newcomb/Ellis but we lost some trade currency to get other guys. But I think this deal signifies 2 things: 1) defense is going to be very important to Eppler, particularly up the middle and 2) we are all in over the next 4-5 years. 

 

If he dealt those 2, he must either really like our depth or think he can replenish, possibly with an ace, off FA. I also don't think it is a coincidence that Eppler lauds Richards as an ace and the next day grabs the best defensive SS in baseball. Richards was top 5 in groundball % last season.

 

I'm very curious how the rest of this offseason plays out. I think someone like Heyward is seriously in play now. 

[Adam]

Hopefully this means Arte is pissing cash this off-season

[gotbeer]

At first I was pretty bummed.  But it looks like we got the second coming of Ozzie Smith.  And I'm ok with giving up some prospects for that.  

 

I just hope we have some more FA moves planned.  

[Ohtaniland]

Once the Angels found out that Aybar is really 38 years old it became a no-brainer.

I like the deal because change is needed. How many rings did Aybar help us get. It's time to shake things up and separating Albert from Aybar is a good thing.

Edited November 13, 2015 by CALZONE

[Guest]

It's a freaking bummer that Sean Newcomb was traded for this guy. I'm honestly pissed, but Simmons does make the team better now. 

[DMVol]

It's a freaking bummer that Sean Newcomb was traded for this guy. I'm honestly pissed, but Simmons does make the team better now.

Enough better to give up your 2 best prospects?

[Second Base]

That's a horrible trade. Aybar's already a good defensive shortstop with a bat. Plus we had a front rotation and mid rotation prospect.

And now we have a great defensive SS with no bat.

[gotbeer]

Enough better to give up your 2 best prospects?

 

If it was the 2 best prospects in the MLB, than no it's not worth it.  But this is the 2 best Angels prospects.  And no matter how good Scotty says they are.  I think Newcomb was ranked 24th in the MLB.  And Ellis wasn't even ranked.  

 

So giving up the 24th best prospect for 5 years of the best SS in the MLB, to play along with the best player in the MLB for those 5 years.

 

I'm good with it.

[Cdaniel]

I'm on board with this trade and I too think we will be big spenders this year.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

I love the Simmons & Aybar part.....I get why Newcomb was added.....

 

 

But, then to add in Ellis who was another asset we could have dealt somewhere else?......

 

I'm 75% behind this overall deal.

 

And Simmons can straight out Pick it!

[John Smith]

The Atlanta twitter feed is going bananas (not in a good way) over this trade.

 

https://twitter.com/Braves/status/664971310959865856

[VariousCrap]

I was upset about the trade until I started reading Braves fans responses to this trade. They are livid about this movie. I keep reading that even if Newcomb becomes a good MLB starter, fans still don't think it was worth it. In their opinion, Simmons is that good.

[Turd Ferguson]

I love the Simmons & Aybar part.....I get why Newcomb was added.....

 

 

But, then to add in Ellis who was another asset we could have dealt somewhere else?......

 

I'm 75% behind this overall deal.

 

And Simmons can straight out Pick it!

 

Yeah, that's the part that bugs me a bit. Feels like the "Grichuk" addition in the Freese trade.

[mulwin444]

The Best thing about this trade is I'll never have to see Aybar leading off for Angels again.

[Angelsjunky]

Another positive: Simmons gives the Angels another web-gem-worthy player. It sounds superficial, but it might actually yield an overall positive effect for revenue. The Angels now have two players who are just pure pleasure to watch for any baseball fan.

[totdprods]

Here's some good:

[floplag]

noone is knocking Simmons, but we gave up FAR too much. 

[fan_since79]

That's a horrible trade. Aybar's already a good defensive shortstop with a bat. Plus we had a front rotation and mid rotation prospect.

And now we have a great defensive SS with no bat.

 

This.

[fan_since79]

The Best thing about this trade is I'll never have to see Aybar leading off for Angels again.

 

But...what about all those bunt singles?

[NJHalo]

Didn't Sosh have Aybar batting cleanup for a few games last year?

I hope Simmons is OK with that

[Mark68]

Hopefully this means Arte is pissing cash this off-season

I've been told that pissing cash hurts. He should see a doctor.

[DB24]

 

FLEECED!

[Pujols4MVP]

Remember that 4 out of 5 NL East ballparks favor pitchers. Compared to their being 2 hitter parks in the AL West (HOU & TEX).