Transaction Analysis: Dan Uggla
November 16, 2010 at 5:59 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
Acquired 2B Dan Uggla for 2B Omar Infante and LHP Michael Dunn.
Forget what I said about acquiring Uggla yesterday. Quite simply this trade is highway robbery.
The Braves get Dan Uggla, a 4-win 2B, for a utility player and a 26-year old lefty reliever with a live arm and command issues–one that might develop into a viable 8th inning option. Uggla will make about $10 million in arbitration, Infante makes $2.5 million in 2011.
It seems like Uggla will play 2B for the Braves in 2011 with Prado in LF (or at 3B if Chipper can’t make it back, which I don’t think is happening). Their infield defense will take a hit, but their offense will be a lot better.
The Braves won’t miss Omar Infante, he’s a utility player. The Braves won’t miss Michael Dunn, they already have two better, MLB-ready, left-handed relievers in Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty with Lee Hyde half a year away.
The Braves will love having Uggla hitting in the middle of their line-up. They will score a lot more runs with Uggla than they would’ve without him. The Marlins will regret making this move.
Braves fans: rejoice. This trade is a steal.
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Damn you Peter, damn you.
This is why I love baseball. I can spend the past couple days convincing myself I’d hate to see Uggla on the team only to see the Braves get him for almost nothing AND a damn good chance of legitimate value if he leaves.
Question is, does this scuttle any chance at an actual outfielder and Prado being trading/utility man, or will we have Prado the LFer?
Michael Hill (Marlins GM) for Last Comic Standing.
What do you think this means for how hard we try to sign Hinske?
Who could have possibly thought that we could have got Uggla without giving up any prospects? I agree this was straight robbery. Even if we don’t sign him long-term we will likely get two draft picks. Do you think we are going to lock him up with an extension?
words cant describe how frickin’ PUMPED I AM! WOOT!
I don’t think it has anything to do with it.
Peter, why do you think it means Prado in LF rather than Uggla? That Prado has played there in winterball, or is there a report that I am missing?
WOW!! ignore EVERYTHING I said about not wanting Uggla. Although I did say if we gave up next to nothing I would be on board and it doesn’t get much closer to nothing than this! Awesome trade, perfect middle of the lineup, right handed bat and the best part is that the farm is still in tact! I’m absolutely satisfied with this deal and I can
Woohoo. Does this give Diory a roster spot, or will we get a new utility guy?
What a steal, holy crap
@Jason, Rosenthal tweeted that Prado would play 3rd or LF if chipper comes back.
http://twitter.com/#!/Ken_Rosenthal/status/4665630624055296
Thanks, Jabuck
Read your blog on pursuing Uggla being a mistake and was sold to your opinion, but after I saw the rumored deal, I was wondering if you’d change your stance (since I think you and I both thought it would take some young, great arms to get Uggla).
This is a flat out steal. We traded an overachieving utility man and an above-average, expendable reliever for a perennial All-Star run-producer.
Frank Wren is a magic man.
When I saw “Marlins trade Uggla for Braves’ Infante,” I assumed the Braves had parted with Teheran or Delgado in addition to Infante, because ESPN is wont to leave prospects out of headlines. I nearly wept.
But then I opened the article and the only other piece was Dunn. I nearly wept again, this time with joy.
so does it stop the efforts for Upton or is that still a possibility? Why stop here?
I’m just shocked at this. I wanted them to try and trade Infante while his value is higher than it’s ever been but I had no idea they’d be able to package him with Michael Dunn for DAN UGGLA
Wren said “this is the major piece” we wanted to add and now on to addressing smaller parts, so I’d be shocked if we pursued either Upton, even though I think either would significantly upgrade our team.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Marlins.
I gotta hope we can add Upton from this point on (or someone like him) If we are not looking to add another big piece then we really need to sure up our depth.
Love the trade….and I love that it gives us a solid lineup to start the season regardless of any other future moves. It also gives us flexibility with our future positional moves (i.e. bench or CF)…we can now sign the best bat regardless of position or LH or RH.
One suggestion on TC that I liked was exploring BJ Upton. Prior to this trade, I was totally against BJ Upton; however, now, I’m much more open to a trade like with our present lineup. He’d be solid D in CF with high reward possibility v. low risk. Thoughts?
I highly doubt we go after any of those other big names now. It would be great if we did because theres still a need for a good defensive CF who can also play left. But I pretty much see that being filled by someone more along the lines of who CAC has outlined who can play lights out D and probably not be able to hit a lick. But this solves the biggest problem of a right handed power hitter so I’m ok if this is the biggest name we add for now.
CAC…
so does baseball economics go out the window on a trade like this?
But, if the Marlins play Infante all year at 2B and if Infante plays kind of like he has for us, he will be a type A, reject arb because arb would be 4 or so and he can get 15 over 3 almost for sure), and they will get the same picks they would have gotten with Uggla. If we super sub him, I don’t know if he gets the innings for type A, but he would be at least type B and we are giving that up. I agree that Dunn is slightly superfluous if O’Flaherty is offered arb. However, I think he has excess value in the next 5 years of more than Uggla’s excess value and then would also net picks (although deferering them out 5 years drops the value considerably).
Uggla / Prado doesn’t give us quite the roster flexibility and still leaves us dangling for offensive help again next year (maybe also at 3rd besides left and center).
Also, net payroll increase is about 7.5, so we should still have some money (if we move Kawakami and eat 4 of his, then I think it is still 8 to 10 more. What say you CAC?) unless Liberty is cutting us again.
I would still be in on JUSTIN Upton and monitor that and if BJ Upton goes for something significantly less, that might not be a bad place to play either.
Spin it a different way. Ludwick is a possible non tender. We could probably get him for just Dunn if we went ahead and pulled the trigger. His salary would be less than the increase to get Uggla.
It’s done per espn, so so am I.
What are the odds on Chip and Joe saying, when he hits his first home run, “what’s his name? DAN UGGLA!!!”?
So with us getting Uggla and the Phrillies having presumably lost Werth, how do you think the balance of power in the East has changed? Do the dumbass Marlins want us to win the division next year?
I think we should inquire about BJ at least–in two years we have a great deal coming off the books –chipper and Lowe–could we sign Uggla for a shorter contract and backload the deal.
BJ would give us defense in center and Nate would be a 4th OF
As for Justin–it all depends if we want to give up pitching–like JJ and some in the minors not named Tehran
great trade–traded on Omar at his height and like many said Dunn does have a great arm but control issues
I love Infante, and I thought Dunn had potential, but you have to give something to get something.
The only thing that worries me about this trade – the last time people thought the Braves were robbing another team…the McLouth trade.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Atlanta Braves Buzz, Bill Baer and Mike Kerns , Peter Hjort. Peter Hjort said: A very short entry on the Dan Uggla trade — http://capitolavenueclub.com/?p=3260 [...]
I love the deal for the Braves, but I hate the fact that this is the only big deal the team will make this offseason. Wren has already said that Uggla goes to 2B, Prado goes to LF, and the Braves are done shopping. I’d have loved to see Justin Upton pried away from the D-Backs. It would have been expensive, but he’s only 23 and under contract for 5 more years at about $10M per. Uggla will be a one-year rental, but at the cost of Infante and Dunn, it was WELL worth it.
Not to mention unless Uggla completely bombs he’s gonna be a type A free agent, it feels like Wren bullied the Marlins into doing this
Crasnick says something about Prado sharing time at first with Freeman and maybe playing left some. No idea where he gets that.
If Wren is really thinking he is “done” (or “Dunn”, ha ha) then there is no way the above is the plan.
So, CAC, do you think we aren’t looking at any more major pieces? Or, is it possible that we could make a good run at Justin Upton (and THEN I think this is a division winner / make it to World Series favorite team).
Maybe next, the Braves will trade Prado and Beachy for Justin Upton.
C – McCann – slightly below avg
1B – Freeman – well above avg
2B – Uggla – below avg
3B – Chipper – below avg
SS – AGon – slightly above avg
LF – Prado – above avg
CF – McLouth – avg
RF – Heyward – above avg
Fair analysis of the Braves defense next year?
No guys, Wren didn’t bully the Marlins. They know an all hit no field 2B in his last arb year has little excess value. They don’t want to have to offer arb to get the picks and pay the bonuses. Dunn solves that. And, they can afford to take a chance offering arb to Infante and will probably get the same picks. They love hard throwers, so Dunn was probably more valuable to them than to other teams.
The Marlins aren’t bad traders. If they thought there was any serious chance to get something better, they would have waited.
32/GT Alum,
Not quite. McCann is average, Prado will probably be below average and McLouth will definitely be below average.
#32/GT Alum
Beyond the Box Score actually rated McCann as above average defensively, coming in at 3.1 runs saved.
I’d also say that Heyward is well above average in right field, with only Jay Bruce that can say they are better than him without argument.
Uggla at 2nd and Prado in left is moronic though, we need better infield defense and if we trade for someone like BJ Upton then we’d be able to cover Uggla in left more.
32 -
Chipper is average, probably, while McLouth is below average. Also, I think Gonzalez is above average, not even slightly. And we don’t know about Prado in LF. I’d be shocked if he is even average, so I’d guess below.
Prado would be in LF before Uggla because even though he’s better at 2B, he’s also better in LF, presumably. At least has younger legs, the extra mobility that would presumably come with being more youthful, etc.
I’ve wanted an insurance plan for Freeman at 1B, and this seems like it; but I’d rather see Uggla moved over there than Prado, when that need arises.
I’ve spent the time since this rumor was floated trying to find other available affordable right handed hitters with pop who the Braves could have gone after instead, and haven’t come up with many good candidates.
Here’s hoping they sign someone in the Tony Gwynn, who can play great D, bring a reasonable bat for under $2.5 mil
Still surprise the Marlins moved that quickly, instead of looking for a better deal. A pitcher with more potential than Dunn. They’ve been hurting for lefites though.
How long til we see a photograph of Uggla with Uga? 5 days? 10? They’ll be together at the game Saturday, right? At least for some kinda SportSouth commercial for some Thur pre-game show about SEC football, right?
I liked Omar Infante and the role he played for the team this year. But this is beyond hilarious.
That BABIP is going to regress next year and the Marlins are going to be scratching their heads, wondering what happened
I know everyone keeps saying that Martin will move to the outfield to accommodate Uggla. I really think it should be the other way around, Uggla is not the defender Prado it and would has actually played more professional games as an outfielder(20) than Martin(5). I know Prado plays outfield in winter ball, but I think it would be easier to hide Uggla’s defense in left where he’s probably better than Hinske.
Matt@42: I think you mean “games at the Major League Level” and not necessarily “professional games”.
According the TheBaseballCube, Uggla played 20 games in the OF in the minors, somewhere in his career (looks like AA in 2004).
Prado has played 5 games in the OF at the major league level, all in ’08 and ’09, plus 1 at AA in ’08.
Prado just turned 27; Uggla will be 31 before the season starts. There is an element of youth involved. And Prado appears to be the better athelete, generally (by which I just mean fluidity and coordination of movement). Its part of why he’s a better second baseman. But the difference between them at 2B is likely to be lesser than the difference between them in LF.
I still think one of them is likely to see lots of time at 1B and 3B.
And there is a personality element as well.
Idk, I’ve been defending McCann’s defense for a while, but it seems like almost as many of his throws on baserunners last year ended up in the OF as ended up at 2B. And he definitely doesn’t block balls as well as the C I would consider good defensively.
Chipper’s good at certain plays, such as charging the ball barehanded, but his range isn’t what it’s used to be, and I’m figuring it will be even less coming back from this injury.
I know AGon has a good defensive rep, but he had a number of issues last year. Maybe that was just getting used to new infield mates, although, if that’s the case, he could have problems to start this season too.
I gave Prado a benefit of the doubt because he’s fairly mobile, so he should have good range, and LF is typically known as a place to hide defensive liabilities. But I may be giving him too much credit, since he’s going to have to do a lot of things he doesn’t have much experience doing, at least at the ML level.
Heyward looked a little lost to me at times in the OF. He’s got great tools – maybe he’s just still learning the ballparks. And I really didn’t think above average was short-changing him that much.
I’m hoping we get Punto. Great glove at 3rd and 2nd, average at SS. Add him to a Gwynn type outfielder and we’re ready to go.
When I saw the headline that we acquired Uggla, my reaction was, “Oh no!” And then I saw what it cost and I said, “Wait… what? That’s all?! YES SIR!” Unbelievable. Is Frank Wren going to jail? Is this a felony?
I had thought Uggla could be had at a bargain, and this is the trade I thought would happen with exactly these players EXCEPT I predicted a third player… JJ Hoover. Even with Hoover I thought is would be a good trade, as it stands it is a great trade.
Frank Wren is the MAN. That is all.
Who ever said we need Gwyn, I echo that. Guy is a gamer. Great hustle, knows his role, doesnt try to do more than he can.
Also not mentioned is that although we lost some flexibility, Uggla doesnt get hurt. Who needs these super utility players when we’ve got guys who dont get hurt?
Given the Braves medical staff, nobody is safe from injury. They may not cause them, but they are beyond terrible at recognizing them and taking appropriate action.
See: Jason Heyward and Jordan Schafer. Everybody in the world could tell that those guys were injured. Everybody except for those paid to be able to tell, in any case. And if they could tell, then they still failed in their lack of action.
Is there a responsibility on the player to tell when he’s hurt? Yeah, but when everybody watching on TV can tell that a guy is hurt and it’s affecting their game, and the trained medical staff cannot and/or just won’t do anything about it then what you have is a failure.
I would be fine if the Braves spent the rest of the money they have on upgrading the medical staff, tbqh. Maybe we could trade Joe Porter to the Marlins for Mike Stanford.