The Angels and the Braves stayed true to their current missions Thursday. They engineered a five-player deal that sent Andrelton Simmons and high Class A catcher Jose Briceno to Anaheim and Erick Aybar and pitching prospects Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis to Atlanta.
The Angels, who haven't won a playoff game since 2009 and finished a game out in the American League Wild Card race in 2015, are in "win now" mode. They added baseball's best defensive player in Simmons, who is signed through the next five seasons for the very reasonable total of $58 million.