The Arizona Diamondbacks had been looking to deal outfielder Justin Upton for the past two years. They finally pulled the trigger on February 24th, moving Upton and 3rd baseman Chris Johnson to the Braves for utility man Martin Prado and 4 young prospects. Personally as a fan, I feel as though there were pros and cons to this trade. Martin Prado is a very consistent bat and has proven to be one of the most difficult outs in the majors. He has a career .295 batting average, and hit .301 in 2012 with 10 home runs and 70 RBIs. I'll touch on the Cons of the trade first.
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| Justin Upton |
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| Upton Brothers |
We do lose some power with this deal, however I don't believe that it will make much difference as any baseball enthusiast knows that hitting for average wins more games than hitting for power. One of the main factors of this trade that makes me a little scared is the fact that Justin Upton has up and down years, and this year he was due for an Up-ton kind of year. See what I did there? Anyways, this can also be debunked as a myth very quickly and also shows how inconsistent Upton is, which I will touch on in the Pro portion.
For example, in 2008 Justin had 15 homers and 48 RBI, and the next year he had 26 homers and 86 RBI. Then in 2010 he had 17 homers and 69 RBI, where as the following year in his breakout season he had 31 and 88. Then another off year in 2012. When I see these stats I am thinking that he's due for a monster year this year, especially since he is now playing along side his brother BJ who was signed a few months back. This creates some comfort for Justin with the move and might ensure that he has a huge year. This could obviously come back to bite us, especially if we face them in the playoffs. Another negative element of this trade is the fact that we weren't able to get any of their top 5 prospects in the deal. The 4 young players we got were all floating around the 6-10 prospect range, and although they may turn out good, they are a definite risk. I would have liked to see them get a little more sure talent than just Prado in the deal to feel absolutely confident about what the future holds. Having touched on the negative sides I see they are minuscule in size when compared to the positives of the deal.
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| Prado |
The big positive I see coming from this deal is that it provides us with so much more consistency, not only at the plate, but defensively as well. As great as Upton was, he was his own worst enemy, and was unable to break himself out of slumps, as was evident in 2012 when he was pretty much in a year long slump (for his talents). With Prado we now have a sure hand at 3rd base, and someone who can fit pretty much anywhere in a lineup. Although he isn't going to hit homers, he gets on base and that is the whole point of hitting. It is safe to say that quality beats flair in every instance. I would rather have someone who challenges a pitcher in every at bat, then someone who is too inconsistent to put the bat on the ball. We were also able to sign Cody Ross over the break, who is another hitter who is a difficult out and will work the count whenever he comes up. With this new lineup, the Diamondbacks will be able to get ahead early in games in order for our phenomenal-on-paper pitching staff to lock the game down. Our bullpen is something that has been especially beefed up in the off season with the re-signing of closer JJ Putz, and acquisition of Heath Bell who I believe will be a solid 7th inning guy. Then you have David Hernandez come in the 8th, and Putz in the 9th to close it. That is the most solid 1-2-3 punch I've seen from a Dbacks bullpen, not to mention Brad Ziegler, who can pretty much fill in anywhere.
All in all I believe this was a good deal to ensure the Diamondbacks will have the recipe to win this season and hopefully get deep into the playoffs this year, and in the future. Many Dbacks fans were not happy with this deal, but once they learn it's about being scrappy over being flashy, they will start to appreciate what this deal has to offer.
