there was no reason to trade them then. especially russell. saying they "should" have traded them in hindsight is pointless, especially since there was probably more reason to trade baez then, which would have been a huge mistake. Russell had a #1 prospect attached to his name and would most likely bring more in return. To me Baez had a higher ceiling than Russell, even at that time. russell would have brought more in return because he had more value at that time. i don't think it was even a question then. the fact that you may have thought baez was worth more doesn't change the fact that the baseball world didn't. but the point is that there was no reason to trade russell after 2016. they were never going to have 100% of these young hitting prospects pan out. they had to let the stars prove themselves and then try to get value for the busts while they still could. trading 22 year old russell after his 4-win 2016 made no sense. he looked like a young cheap star, and the plan of competing for the better part of a decade revolved around getting those.