Atlanta made a move Thursday evening that involved the son of a former Phillies All-Star
Now that the collective bargaining agreement is out of the way, teams are back to business as usual. For the Atlanta Braves, business as usual this offseason has been acquiring veteran pitching.
Atlanta acquired St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia in exchange for three prospects. One of those prospects is the son of former Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra.
Luke Dykstra, an infielder, has been traded along with pitchers John Grant and Chris Ellis. Dykstra was the Braves 28th ranked prospect, while Grant and Ellis were 21 and 17 respectively.
Like his father, Luke is known for his ability to hit. While only in Single-A at the age of 20, the young Dykstra has a .300 batting average over three minor league seasons. With Single-A Rome in 2015 Dykstra hit .348 in 26 games.
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Atlanta, who finished 2.5 games behind the Phillies in the National League East, has now acquired pitchers Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey. Aside from the returning Julio Tehran and Mike Foltynewicz, Atlanta could have one of the oldest starting rotations of all-time.
Despite being a rebuilding team, the Braves three pitching acquisitions have an average age of 38. Both Colon and Dickey are over 40 and are each probably 10 years past their “prime.”
While the Braves did not give away a top prospect for Garcia, it’s befuddling that a rebuilding organization would trade three top-30 prospects for a 30-year-old starter with just one year left in his contract.
Just rest easy knowing Matt Klentak would never make that kind of deal for instant gratification, and is taking the rebuild in the right direction.