Link doesn't work for me. Here's a good one.

I'm guessing Justin moves to LF, Prado to 3b?

No way would I give up Teheran/Delgado, O'Flaherty/Venters, Ahmed, and Graham/Spruill for Upton.

"I think that, if Team B wanted to match Team A's offer, they could offer something like this" is not much of a rumor...

Why would a team have to match a rejected offer?

They wouldn't necessarily, but the offer wasn't rejected, it was refused by Upton on a NTC.

If the Braves were to present a comparable package, it would include Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado, Eric O’Flaherty or Jonny Venters, shortstop Nick Ahmed and likely either J.R. Graham or Zeke Spruill.

That's not a comparable package -- it's a significantly worse one.

The fact they spent time negotiating a trade with Seattle even though they are on Upton's NTC makes me wonder if they specifically did this to establish a firm trade value.

No way would I give up Teheran/Delgado, O'Flaherty/Venters, Ahmed, and Graham/Spruill for Upton.

Why not, exactly?

TINSTAAP
Middle reliever
Low minors infielder
TINSTAAP

That's news to me about this likely being McCann's last year in Atlanta. I know shoulder injuries are tough and am hoping for a solid recovery.

That's news to me about this likely being McCann's last year in Atlanta. I know shoulder injuries are tough and am hoping for a solid recovery.

Atlanta's in a catch-22 with Mac. If he recovers, he prices himself out of their budget. If he doesn't, he's not a good case for extension.

The fact they spent time negotiating a trade with Seattle even though they are on Upton's NTC makes me wonder if they specifically did this to establish a firm trade value.

The problem is that Towers now can't trade for anything less than that value or else be branded incompetent for dealing Upton cheap. I'm having trouble seeing Towers making the case that this package is as good as the Seattle package.

So we're left where we started. Uptown isn't going anywhere.

The problem is that Towers now can't trade for anything less than that value or else be branded incompetent for dealing Upton cheap.

Kevin Towers don't care how he's branded.

Kevin Towers: carefree crusader for mediocrity!

I'm having trouble seeing Towers making the case that this package is as good as the Seattle package.

To whom though? Most fans and media don't follow prospects. SP prospect, SS prospect, RP prospect, ML RP is gonna look the same to a lot of them. Plus he can play the "Unfortunately, Justin Upton gave us no choice after he vetoed the Seattle trade." (Yes, of course they have the choice of not trading him but that's why you badmouth the guy, float as many rumors as possible, etc.)

Now, Upton may really not like Seattle -- if it was just about leverage, you'd think they'd have worked out a deal by now.

Now, I understand that Franklin is considered a good prospect, so it kinda makes sense for Towers to trade for him because he's probably better than the 19 crappy SS he's picked up this offseason. But I'm assuming Ahmed is not a stud prospect so it's possible (just possible) that Towers might like something other than a low minors SS back in this deal with Atlanta.

An Upton/Upton/Heyward OF sounds awfully athletic to me.

An Upton/Upton/Heyward OF sounds awfully athletic to me.

Terrence Moore's dream outfield.

Terrence Moore's dream outfield.

Yeah, mine too.

I was also one of the only ones who thought he was basically right about Andruw Jones (that he'd be an easy HoFer if he had a stronger work ethic and commitment to conditioning), huh - feels odd to be agreeing with Terrence Moore.

An Upton/Upton/Heyward OF sounds awfully athletic to me.

I think the A's are too cheap to splurge on a redundant Upton.

From the looks of things, I'm not sure there is such a thing as "an easy HoFer" anymore.

I was also one of the only ones who thought he was basically right about Andruw Jones (that he'd be an easy HoFer if he had a stronger work ethic and commitment to conditioning)

Well, probably but Jones' early demise is not uncommon for guys who play a ton early. Jones had the 8th most PA through age 30 in history. If you look at the top 15:

contributed very little after 30: Renteria, Griffey, Jones
still pretty good (or better) but ended "early": Ott, Pinson, Foxx, Mantle, Santo, Mathews

Stuff happens. I'll grant you that Andruw is the only one in that group that I think got seriously out of shape (no idea on Ott, Foxx and Mathews really) but he was never likely to produce a lot in his 30s. Granted, given the way GG voting seems to favor incumbents, if he'd stayed in shape he might have had Mike Cameron's post-30s. But, really, other than that disaster year in LA, there's nothing in Andruw's post-30 stat line that looks particularly out of place. He was always an "old man" style hitter but not a "take and rake god" so that he would become a low-average, high-power lefty masher is pretty much what we'd expect I think.

Obviously he's a better HoF candidate if his career doesn't end in such an "embarrassing" fashion and so "early." But the bulk of his HoF case was always going to be about what he did by 30 and his defense and he's still got that. If you believe in the defense, he's still got a reasonable peak/prime case.

Upton/Upton/Heyward or Upton/Bourn/Heyward should be a phenomenal defensive alignment.

I realize O'Flaherty has been money for ATL, but he's not the painful part of the package, you know?

looks like it's going to happen at long last today.

Well done, D-backs, in alienating your best player and then trading him for 70 cents on the dollar.

The Braves are clearly feeling the pressure to match the Phils' Delmon Young signing.

MLBTR:

Delgado is not the biggest piece going to Arizona in the trade, but Julio Teheran is staying with the Braves

Who would be bigger than Delgado and not Teheran? Minor? I can't imagine the Dbacks want another SS.

Ugh, rumor is it's Prado. Very disappointed if so.

Mark Bowman ?@mlbbowman
Source: Braves get Justin Upton and Chris Johnson from D-backs for Prado, Delgado, Ahmed and Spruill.

Johnson's a poor defender, but having Andrelton Simmons next to him will help cover that up. Prado's a free agent after this year, which makes the deal even more of a steal for the Braves.