Last night the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired right handed starter Shelby Miller from the Atlanta Braves. The Diamondbacks sent Ender Inciarte as well as top prospects Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson to Atlanta in the deal.
Miller posted a solid 3.02 ERA with 171 strikeouts and 73 walks in 205 innings pitched this season. While Miller’s record was only 6-17, he was a victim of poor luck and received very little run support. With his 3.45 FIP and 3.4 WAR according to Fangraphs, he clearly provides Arizona with a huge upgrade in their rotation. However, they sacrificed a lot of young talent and are already receiving a lot of backlash for the deal.
David Schoenfield of ESPN goes as far as saying that the D’Backs got robbed in the trade. Schoenfield thinks they severely underestimated Inicarte’s value as he had an even higher fWAR than Miller this year at 5.3.
Inciarte batted .303/.338/.408 in 524 plate appearances this season with 21 steals, but it’s his defense that really stands out. As Schoenfield writes in his article, Inciarte ranks second in the MLB this season with 29 defensive runs saved according to Baseball Info Solutions.
Meanwhile, Blair and Swanson are two of the team’s top prospects. Blair is ranked as the third best prospect in the system by MLB.com and Swanson is listed as number one. Swanson is also the first overall pick of the 2015 draft, and has a very bright future ahead of him at shortstop.
The Braves have been doing a great job rebuilding their farm. and it seems like they got another great haul here. In Arizona’s defense, their rotation is significantly improved this winter with Zack Greinke and Miller and they could be a dangerous team in the NL West next year. But they sure besieged their long-term future it seems.
