Back in 2007, the Atlanta Braves made one of the worst trades in living memory, shipping Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the Texas Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay. It would have been bad enough if only half of that load of talent went to Texas for the rent-a-Teixeira, but overall it was disastrous.
So you can imagine the chutzpah involved on the part of the Rangers in asking the Braves, once again, to ship them a stud shortstop prospect. This time, however, they did not bite:
Rangers wanted Upton enough that they tried to trade Olt for ATL’s Simmons (who AZ wants). Braves wouldn’t do it, tho.
— DKnobler (@DKnobler) November 12, 2012
Olt is a good prospect, but Simmons is a year younger, is a plus-defender at short and has given the Braves a decent indication that he’ll be able to handle major league pitching. You simply don’t trade that away to a team that has already fleeced you in the past in exchange for a corner guy.