By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

We’re deep into the second year of the Braves somewhat controversial rebuild, and in Atlanta, things are going fairly poorly.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as they product on the field is by turns young, inexperienced and/or mediocre.

That’s been written about plenty, we won’t go into that with much depth right now.

Contrarily, the product on the field in the minor leagues for the Braves system is full of hope and talent. That’s also been well documented.

For now, I want to go back to the big tent poles of this rebuild: the trades that made Braves fans cry foul. We’ll analyze the returns a little, sure, but what I really want to do is focus on the players we traded away.

When Jason Heyward was traded, fans were furious. Justin Upton, the same, and Even Gattis too. Craig Kimbrel was snatched away the day before the season started, infuriating the touchy fan base even further. Top prospect Jose Peraza was shipped off with young starter Alex Wood in the middle of the year, and the big gut of Andrelton Simmons’ departure hit us shortly after last season ended, followed by the much more lauded Shelby Miller trade.

So let’s look at what those guys are up to, and see if they’re worth being upset about, or if everyone was just crying over spilt milk.

First off, Heyward. Now this is a trickier case because, like Justin, Heyward only had one year left on his contract when the Braves traded him, and both ended up walking; we can assume he would have done the same in Atlanta but for the sake of argument let’s pretend he would still be on the team.

His 2015 with the Cardinals was a good one, no doubt about that. This year, on arguably the best team in the league, Heyward is hitting .233 with 4 home runs and a slugging percentage of .329.

Maybe he’s having an off year, but is he worth the money that Chicago is paying him? No. Does Atlanta need more players to hit for low average and low power? No again.

Upton too has seen poor productivity in Detroit with an average under .240 and a power drop.

Evan Gattis, with four years left on his contract when he was traded, is hitting for power in Houston but his strikeouts are high and his average is low. Houston even sent him to the minors for a bit early in the season.

We’re not missing out. Jose Peraza hasn’t stuck at the major league level, and Alex Wood hasn’t evolved into the starter some thought he would and he’s beginning to show signs of arm trouble, which the Braves were afraid of anyway.

Kimbrel I’ll admit is still a fine closer, but he’s nowhere near the pitcher he was while he was in Atlanta. He went from being the most terrifying closer in the game to just being a good closer.

Splitting hairs maybe, but I’m just showing that the Braves cut loose a guy who was about to come back to earth.

When the Braves traded Simmons, I think it was the lowest point of this entire ordeal. A hugely popular player and the best defensive player on the planet was shipped off to the Angels. What’s he been up to? Well unfortunately he’s on the disabled list, but before that he was hitting to the tune of .214, and on-base percentage of .238, and a slugging percentage of .269.

Now I love Simmons and want him to turn into a Hall of Fame shortstop, but these numbers are flat out atrocious. If he wasnt half the defensive player he is he’d have been in the minor leagues on April 20^th.

Shelby Miller, the trade of whom brought the near opposite reaction, has been simply terrible for the Diamondbacks this year.

I realize I have the benefit of hindsight here, but it seems like people were looking forward to a lineup of averages that include .214, .212 .233, .238 and on and on, with a rotation that includes bad pitchers.

And that team would be way more expensive.