The Atlanta Braves are said to be speaking with an NL West club with regards to Gold Glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons, according to a report from Jonah Keri of ESPN.com.
As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports, the team is not close to moving the shortstop at the moment as their is no immanent deal while Atlanta continues to speak with several teams who have just touched base with the organization.
While the team may not be moving the 26-year-old phenom anytime soon, they are definitely listening in on offers.
According to Dennis Lin of San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Diego Padres are among the teams to have checked in on Simmons but a deal is not close at the moment.
As mentioned by David O'Brien of AJC.com, the team would have to be very overwhelmed to make such a move.
As Rosenthal reports, the Padres, who were the perfect trade partners for Atlanta last season, could become so once again as they are in need of a shortstop at the moment. The only problem with that is the fact that Simmons has a reasonable contract running with the Braves through the 2020 season.
One team under interesting circumstances right now would the Colorado Rockies. There could certainly be a hole in their middle infield to start the 2016 season given the situation surrounding Jose Reyes. As noted by many throughout the week, commissioner Rob Manfred has the chance to test MLB's new policy on Reyes after reports earlier this week indicated he had been arrested in Hawaii for harming his wife.
As noted by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the New York Mets and Chicago White Sox are among several other teams on the look out for a shortstop and could very well become involved within a short time period as soon as this weekend.
It is said that veteran outfielders Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn could become involved as other trade pieces in a deal alongside Simmons.
Throughout the 2015 season, Simmons appeared in 147 games played for Atlanta while hitting .265/.321/.338 with four home runs and 44 RBI's while having made a total of 583 plate appearances. Throughout the entire season, Simmons committed only eight errors. Over the course of his four-year big league career with the Braves, Simmons owns a career slash line of .256/.304/.362 slash line over 1999 plate appearances, along with 31 home runs and 168 runs batted in, making just 39 errors in the field.
Simmons has won two of the last three Gold Glove awards and will be looking for redemption this coming season wherever he may end up after failing to win this year as Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants took home the award. Should Simmons remain in Atlanta, he will be entering the third year of his seven-year, $58 million contract.