The rumors swirled around tonight on the world wide web. On twitter Jesse Sanchez tweeted the news but it wasn’t confirmed then.
MLB Trade Rumors also spread the news but eventually MLB.com came with news that the Angels had traded for Andrelton Simmons. And even though MLB.com says that the deal hasn’t been confirmed by both clubs, the news has been posted on the Angels’ website.
The Braves are in a rebuilding mode and are trying to haul in young talent to build for their future. Not that Simmons was that old with an age of 26.
Simmons is arguably the best shortstop in baseball, even though he wasn’t awarded the Gold Glove this year, failing to win the hardware for the third year in a row. Nevertheless, he was declared the best defensive player in the Majors on Wednesday.
It is expected that the Angels will send shortstop Erick Aybar to the Braves accompanied by $3 million and two top prospects in exchange. This move is a bit mind boggling to me. Simmons is still under control for the next five years and he is not old yet. But the remaining $55 milllion left on his contract may be a very important reason for the Braves to send him to Anaheim.
Another reason may be that the MLB debut of Curacaoan shortstop Ozhaino Albies may be at hand. Perhaps not in 2016, but then in the following season. And then the acquisition of Aybar makes a lot of sense all of a sudden.
EDIT
In the course of the night, more details about the deal were published as the news was confirmed by both clubs.
The Braves send Simmons and Minor League catching prospect Jose Briceno to the Angels in exchange for Erick Aybar, starting-pitching prospects Sean Newcomb (nr. 19 on MLB top 100 prospects),and catcher Chris Ellis. The Braves also received an additional $2.5 milllion to to balance out the 2016 salaries of Aybar and Simmons.
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