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While we were busy reliving Jason Heyward’s Opening Day arrival, there was another big event that took place on April 5 in Atlanta Braves history. Saturday was also the fifth anniversary of the Craig Kimbrel trade with the San Diego Padres.
On the eve of Opening Day, Atlanta sent Kimbrel and outfielder B.J. Upton to the Padres for outfielders Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin, Jordan Paroubeck, RHP Matt Wisler and the 41st pick in the 2015 Draft. The trade was big and it stung as the Braves were forced to attach Kimbrel in a trade just to move Upton and the remaining money left on his contract.
Maybin would appear in 141 games for Atlanta in 2015 and Wisler would arrive and put up arguably his most productive season as a pro. The only real takeaway from this deal for the Braves was the draft pick which they used to select Austin Riley. The deal wasn’t a slam dunk for the Padres either. Kimbrel performed as expected saving 39 games but San Diego would finish just 74-88 on the season.
Braves News
The Braves aired the 2010 Opening Day game that featured Jason Heyward’s home run in his first Major League at-bat Saturday night as part of their classic rebroadcast series. If you missed it you can rewatch it by following the link.
MLB.com’s Will Leitch lists every team’s most dominant player from the 1980s. It is quite a list but there is no surprise with Dale Murphy as the obvious choice for Atlanta. Murphy won back-to-back MVP awards in 1982 and 1983 and slugged a career-best 44 home runs in 1987. He was the lone bright spot in a lot of down seasons for Atlanta.
MLB News
File this under your strange news of the day. Three minority owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks have filed a lawsuit saying that managing general partner Ken Kendrick is illegally trying to force them to either increase their investment in the team or relinquish their stakes at a price that is unfair.