The San Diego/Atlanta trade this week was a swap of prospects who've disappointed, but who are both young enough to possibly turn their careers around, given new environments and coaches. Although Atlanta probably got the more realistic shot at seeing a positive return on the deal.

Christian Bethancourt has an 80 arm and 70 power, but he's failed to make progress as a receiver. His hands are fine, but his focus behind the plate is poor, and he has flopped in two brief major-league trials, although his 2015 playing time was inconsistent. Bethancourt's plate discipline is atrocious; he's never drawn more than 15 unintentional walks in a season nor has he walked in even 5 percent of his plate appearances. He does have game power and can crush a fastball, and he's still just 24 years old, so it's not irrational to think he might still figure out the whole not-a-strike thing, just unlikely. The receiving issue is the bigger concern, especially with the increased emphasis across baseball on framing. It's a surprise the Padres would want him, given their recent issues with pitchers disliking throwing to Yasmani Grandal, a good framer and thrower but poor receiver and game-caller. They now have a surplus of catchers, and could use Austin Hedges, one of their top prospects who languished on the major-league bench for most of 2015, in a trade to fill another need.

Casey Kelly was a first-round pick in 2008 by the Boston Red Sox, went to San Diego in the Adrian Gonzalez trade, reached the majors in 2012, and blew out his elbow right afterwards. He's been back for a year and a half but hasn't had any success, even in Double-A, despite his stuff returning after the surgery. Kelly is an outstanding athlete and one of the best-fielding pitchers I've ever seen, with a four-seamer up to 95 mph and a very easy, sharp-breaking curveball. But his delivery is so easy and fluid that it provides no deception, and hitters have long been able to square up the fastball and produce hard contact off Kelly that seems impossible, given the quality of his stuff. (This delivery problem -- it's almost too pretty, so it grades out well on a scouting report but creates a disadvantage against live hitters -- bedeviled Luke Hochevar and may be a problem for Mark Appel. Meanwhile, ugly deliveries that produce a Pavlovian response in me to shout "RELIEVER," like those of Chris Sale or Alex Wood, give pitchers a leg up because hitters can't pick up the ball as easily.) I think Kelly needs to go back to Triple-A with a new fastball option -- a two-seamer, a sinker, a cutter, anything to get hitters off the four-seamer. I don't think this is a case of just sending the guy to the pen and assuming the stuff will play up, but I also don't think you ever want to give up on a pitcher who's this athletic.

Atlanta also receives catcher Ricardo Rodriguez, who turns 18 next week and spent 2015 in the Dominican Summer League. The Venezuelan-born backstop signed for $800,000 in July of 2014 and is a smaller guy with more skills than tools. He’s a solid defensive catcher who made a ton of contact in his pro debut, although his swing can be long because he loads his hands high and deep. He's a long way off, but a catcher with a chance to hit is a valuable asset to have in the system.