LA Angels Andrelton Simmons for Sean Newcomb one year later

The LA Angels traded top prospect Sean Newcomb for established defensive wizard Andrelton Simmons in the winter of 2015. With one full season in the books we re-examine the trade.

The LA Angels acquired an all-star, gold glove winning shortstop in Andrelton Simmons, from the Atlanta Braves. Going to Atlanta was SP Sean Newcomb, Erik Aybar (a former all-star and gold glove winning SS himself), and SP Chris Ellis. The Angels also received Jose Briceno, a C/1B who hit in the .230’s last season.

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Removing Aybar, who unfortunately had an awful year on and off the field, and Briceno who is unlikely to do much with the Angels- how do Simmons vs. Newcomb/Ellis stack up a year later?

Defense was the reason that the Angels acquired Simmons. And he played great defense in 2016, anchoring an Angels infield that was otherwise influx in 2016. To boot, Simmons added his best offensive season since his outlier 2013, batting .281 with a .690 OPS. Even with missing a portion of the season with injuries, his production alone from the 9 spot was enviable. Factor in the very team friendly contract he came over on (7 yrs/58 million) that has him signed through 2020, and Simmons is a lot of positive.

Newcomb was the LA Angels first round pick in the 2014 draft. Newcomb was also the cornerstone apparent to a system not so much in need of rebuilding as it was in need of saving. However, before we get to that, let’s address Chris Ellis.

Top prospect billing was never likely to be in the cards for Ellis. However, he was expected to contribute at the major league level. He has since departed the Braves system for the Cardinals in the Jaime Garcia trade. Currently, Garcia is slotted as the no. 3 starter for the Braves. Coming off a losing season with a 4.67 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP, Garcia was not Chris Sale. As Ellis was one of 3 prospects that went to STL in the trade, Newcomb again becomes our main focus.

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Sean Newcomb can throw gas with his fastball. When he mixes in his off-speed pitches, the ball misses a lot of bats. However, last season in AA, the ball also missed a lot of the strike zone. Newcomb’s pitch command was his enemy at times last season, stalling him for much of the season’s first half. While Newcomb did make Keith Law’s top 100 prospects list (#87) and he is a left-handed pitcher, when the Angels made the trade, they had reason to believe that they had young, controllable, and ready for the majors starting pitching.  Tyler Skaggs, Garret Richards, Andrew Heaney, and Nick Tropeano were already on the team and poised to contribute.

The Angels made a leveraged bet, had the farm system not been so depleted by trades and free agent signings that haven’t gone as well as planned, would have been more well received at the time. The 2017 season is now underway with Simmons again anchoring the middle of the Angels infield. Sean Newcomb is continuing his climb through the minors (with many analysts thinking he has a chance to make his MLB debut in 2017.)

As a result, the better piece belongs to the LA Angels as of 2017. Had they held onto Newcomb, they would be in a position where they still had a prospect in the minors, now possibly feeling the need to try to expedite his promotion to cover the loss of other young pitchers.