Cardinals, Braves swap Shelby Miller and Jason Heyward in four-player deal
The Cardinals and Braves made a major-impact trade on Monday morning.
St. Louis Cardinals trade RHP Shelby Miller & RHP Tyrell Jenkins to the Braves for OF Jason Heyward & RHP Jordan Walden.
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) November 17, 2014
Yeah. Big news.
Heyward is a Gold Glove outfielder who will be a free agent after the 2015 season. He’s only 25 years old, and figures to land a large long-term contract at some point in the next year or so, be it with his brand-new team or with another squad as a free agent. The Braves didn’t feel they could meet those numbers, which is part of the reason for this deal. For a more in-depth look at the reasoning, check out this piece from Saturday.
Heyward has also failed to reach the crazy-high expectations that Braves fans had after his outstanding rookie season, though that’s not all his fault. That year, he made the All-Star team, finished second in the rookie of the year and received a handful of MVP votes after hitting .277 with a .393 on-base percentage and .849 OPS (those remain his career-bests in those categories). His career slash line is .262/.351/.429.
Of course, again, he’s only 25.
Heyward is perfect Cardinals fit. Age-wise, slots in well in terms of his likely peak curve. And preference in FA is trade, then retain.
— Howard Megdal (@howardmegdal) November 17, 2014
Walden is a hard-throwing right-hander who fits into the Cardinals’ bullpen of hard throwers. In his five-year career (three seasons with the Angels, two with the Braves), he’s struck out 10.8 batters per nine innings and fashioned a 3.10 ERA and 2.80 FIP. He has two years of arbitration before he becomes a free agent.
Miller is a 24-year-old starter who has a career 3.33 ERA for the Cardinals in 69 games (63 starts). The former first-round pick has had control issues in his two seasons as a full-fledged member of the St. Louis rotation (though he lost that spot for a short spell in 2014), with a career average of 3.3 walks per nine innings (his K/9 ratio dropped from 8.8 in 2013 to 6.2 in 2014, too).
The Braves needed pitching, though, and Miller is under club control for the next four years.
Shelby Miller’s career FIP is 4.03. It was 4.54 this year. And I don’t want a guy that St. Louis is giving up on. That never ends well.
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) November 17, 2014
According to Baseball America, Tyrell Jenkins was the Cardinals’ No. 6 prospect in 2012, No. 8 in 2013 and wasn’t in the top 10 last spring. He’s still just 22 years old, though, and had a 3.28 ERA in 13 starts for high-Class A Palm Beach this year.
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