Braves/D'backs agree to deal, pending physical...

[Nemesis21]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/01/b ... upton.html

[bstrassburg]

Final deal is Justin Upton and Chris Johnson for Martin Prado, Randall Delgado, Nick Ahmed, Zeke Spruill, and Brandon Drury.

Shocked to see Prado in the deal but guessing he wouldn't talk about a contract extension and wanted to test free agency (or at least his agent did).

Chris Johnson to compete with and possibly form a platoon with Juan Francisco at 3B.

[Nemesis21]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/01/b ... upton.html


Not too bad, hate to see Prado go.

[ohara]

Great deal for Atlanta! Prado is wanting more money than we can give him for an extension, and we would lose him in a year anyway. So be it. But this deal is fine with me.

[bstrassburg]

For celebrations sake:

[Geaux_Hawks]

Prado is the only part in this deal I didn't want to see go, but with Johnson coming back and Francisco possibly platooning with him, and the obvious addition of Upton, I see no harm done dealing him. His extension was going to be costly anyway.

[ohara]

Keith Law at ESPN thinks we got a deal. Says we got him for about 50 cents on the dollar.

[bstrassburg]

Even though I owned him in fantasy all season I forgot how good of a season Chris Johnson had last year, hit .281 with 15 HR's and 76 RBI playing 2/3 of his games with the Astros, as our #8 hitter next year those are really good numbers. And if the Roadrunner can put together a spring like he played in Winter Ball that's a pretty dangerous platoon. The only problem is both hitters play better against RHP.

The other nice thing is by including Prado in the deal, that gives them about $10 million in flexibility still for this season, so if we suffer some pitching injuries or Teheran can't keep it together we have the cash to take on a contract there.

[ATL Boy]

I just wanna take a moment to appreciate everything Prado's done for us...

But as for the Deal Wren is just proving himself as THE Best GM in Baseball, we got Justin Upton who's 25 y/o and who has 3 more years on his contract (which is reasonable) for Prado who would've demanded big money for an extension (this was his final year), Delgado who's a future middle of the rotation guy, and spare parts. We kept Teheran, we kept Simmons, we kept all our top prospects. Wren didn't blink and we got the better end of the deal IMO. Now we have both Upton brothers and Heyward in the outfield, if there's an achilles heal to this it's that we're a full 2 months away from April.

[TheKingofSting]

I wonder who will bat leadoff Simmons?

[d boy gentleman]

Glad we didn't have to give up the farm for him. It remains to be seen if we are now one of the favorites to win the NL heading into the season, but at least I think we win the NL East.

[TheKingofSting]

Justin will wear number 8. Javy Lopez's old number. Braves already preping #10 for retirement.

[barves]

Love the deal. Hate to see Prado go but Wren made the best move possible. Really glad we got to keep Teheran, can't wait to see him get a shot for a longer period of time in majors.

[TheKingofSting]

A few things about the press conference:

1. Fredi seems to favor McCann hitting cleanup, and will see how it goes from there.

2. Justin kinda downplayed his exit from AZ and the general perception. Looks like he's playing with a chip on his shoulder.

3. "We want to win the World Series. I think we're good enough to do it." The Braves have needed more guys (not just players) who are willing to say the goal is not just to compete in the division or the NL, but to win the whole damn thing.

[orlandomanic]

Heyward and the Upton brothers..... are their any other all black american outfields on an MLB team?