It's tempting, but too soon to evaluate Miller-Heyward trade
Six weeks into the 2015 MLB season, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak looks like a fool and Braves president of operations John Hart looks like a genius.
An offseason trade between the two franchises that sent right-handed pitcher Shelby Miller to the Braves and outfielder Jason Heyward to the Cardinals has had lopsided results so far.
Miller is dominating in Atlanta, boasting a 5-1 record with a 1.33 earned run average and 43 strikeouts, nearly throwing a no-hitter in his most recent start against the Miami Marlins.
Heyward, on the other hand, hasn't experienced quite the same success in St. Louis.
The right fielder is hardly garnering the same excitement as he did when he emerged as MLB's most exciting prospect in his rookie season in 2010, in which he hit 18 home runs and drove in 72 runs.
In the 38 games he's played so far in a Cardinals jersey, Heyward has hit .243 with a .296 on-base percentage, figures that fall significantly lower than his career averages of .261 and .349, respectively.
However, while it's convenient to extol the virtues of the Braves' front office for the deal, it's still far too premature to derive any conclusions from the trade.
"You don't make a ruling on a trade on May 18th," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in a piece urging fans to quell their knee-jerk reactions to the transaction.
After all, assuming both players remain healthy, they're both only one-fourth of the way through their seasons.
Miller has roughly 24 more starts left after his stellar eight, and Heyward has at least 100 more games remaining to resurrect his subpar numbers achieved in his first 38 games.
There's one thing that's always certain in baseball: It's a long season.
And that long season makes room for many possibilities that can't be contained by six weeks.
(h/t St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
