This is why hindsight is so powerful in this business.
This winter, two shortstops for okay teams were traded for each other. Andrelton Simmons was traded to Anaheim for Erick Aybar, who was sadly forced to play for the Braves. And at the time, everyone was enthused about how this would shake up the balance and give the Angels huge advantage in the race (remember, the Angels were pretty good last year), while still being nice enough for the Braves.
In reality...it didn't really affect anything at all. Neither one had an absolutely spectacular season, other than doing slightly okay for themselves. Erick Aybar didn't even stay in Atlanta- he's currently backing up the infield in Detroit.
Andrelton Simmons is still a great infielder and a great player, but because the Angels are so unspectacular this season, he can't really shine- and even worse for him, this is a team that has two of the biggest stars in baseball (I am of course referring to Geovany Soto and Tyler Skaggs), and he really can't stick his head into the equation very often.
So, while some deals that trade two perfectly good infielders for each other (like Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler, or Brett Lawrie for Josh Donaldson, or even Edwin Encarnacion for Scott Rolen) are pretty well remembered for giving one team in particular a surefire hit player that changed the face of the team, this one...isn't doing much for anybody for the moment. Maybe I'll give them both some time, though.
Coming Tonight- Speaking of futile teams with trades that went nowhere, one of the two remaining players from the influx of new blood from San Diego's 2015 offseason.
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