REACTION: Atlanta Braves Blockbuster and The Morning After … The Plan Is Coming Together
By Dan Horton
Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks Complete Blockbuster Deal; Shelby Miller Nets Amazing Return
Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? We knew the market was high for Miller, but this high? No one saw this coming.
As the news of the trade to Arizona was happening, I was with my family putting up my Christmas Tree. The notification on my phone only said that Braves trade Shelby Miller to the Diamondbacks for Ender Inciarte.
Initial reaction … ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME?! Then I went to Twitter.
Anger, frustration, and confusion shifted to excitement, jubilation, and vindication without even applying the brakes. We just jobbed the DBacks out of their future. A.J. Pollock, who?
Dansby Swanson, Aaron Blair, and more than just a throw-in with Inciarte!, I mean, WOW! In my excitement, I started looking at the reactions of the fans and national/local media. I’d like to share some of the reactions.
While I was basking in the afterglow of this amazing trade, this last reaction really got me. As the young Padawan John Coppolella pulled a “these are not the droids you are looking for” mind trick on Arizona, I noticed something missing.
The normal rhetoric from any Braves trade or signing in the last few weeks and months had been met with ire and frustration from the fans. Yet, still, I wasn’t seeing hardly any of that last night. Apparently, the arm chair GMs disappeared … Crickets.
Instead of angry emoticons, cursing of a professional baseball executive that knows more about his job than we do, and more about the business and metrics than many in his peer group, there was praises being sung of the man who just last month was being burned at the stake for trading Andrelton Simmons.
Next: Meet Your Newest Atlanta Braves!
We’ve said it here before, the front office knows what they are doing. Now, the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine through, and it’s getting bigger and brighter with each passing day. The moves are far from over.
While I don’t expect to see any moves as big as yesterday, I wouldn’t put it past them to make a few more splashes before Spring Training rolls around. To quote a favorite TV character of mine, John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together”.