The Atlanta Braves got so much more than Hector Olivera from the Dodgers

Over this past week, Braves baseball social media has been tainted with ridiculous takes on the Matt Kemp trade and how the Braves were terrible for acquiring Hector Olivera to begin with. Two things – While John Coppolella may have super negotiating powers, it has yet to be reported that he has the power to see into the future, plus the Braves got more than Olivera from the Dodgers.

Fans and writers alike have their take on the whole Hector Olivera debacle. The simple and sad reality of it is this – The Atlanta Braves made a personnel mistake on Olivera but ended up getting Matt Kemp and much more.

During the past few days, AJC basketball blogger Jeff Schultz, has voiced his opinions on the Hector Olivera trade; both how he got to Atlanta and how the Braves traded him to San Diego. Jeff is a good writer with a lot of personality who spouts off unapologetic opinions with reckless abandonment. (Sound familiar? Wink. Wink.)  As a sports writer, I look up to him greatly.

But, when it comes to baseball, Schultz is wrong a lot of the time. And don’t get me started on that time he said Braves got it wrong with Jason Heyward, of which I wrote this in retaliation.

The first thing Jeff did was criticize the Matt Kemp trade because of what he thought of Matt Kemp’s bat and said that the trade was basically a terrible attempt at justifying the Hector Olivera trade. (Nowhere in this piece does he mention who else the Atlanta Braves got in the trade. One might think he might not know. But I’m not judging.)

While his take on this is clearly wrong, it is forgivable. It’s an opinion and everyone certainly has their opinion. Especially in sports. And especially in baseball.

After Matt Kemp’s second at-bat as an Atlanta Brave, Schultz then judged the entire trade based on those two at-bats.

This also, while wrong and just downright silly, was forgivable.

But where Jeff Schultz crossed the line was when he said that both Matt Kemp and Hector Olivera were equally bad problems and then blamed the Braves for signing a “criminal” and someone who “can’t hit.”

Now, there are only three explanations for this tweet. Either Jeff Schultz needs attention, he’s had a terrible personal experience with the Atlanta Braves and harbors resentment, or he has the ability to see into the future.

To think the Atlanta Braves knew that Hector Olivera would have domestic abuse problems and would not produce at the plate is laughable. Not only this – It could be argued that the Atlanta Braves do their character due diligence on their personnel better than any other organization in sports.

Next: The Braves do their character due diligence