The three years before we got him his bWAR was 5.2, 4.1, and 6.6. That together is 15.7 war. For his career he has 18.4 war. He was a low power corner outfielder without stellar defense and without slut won base skills. Now that his average isn’t great he is worthless. It’s a poor aging skill set. The deal worked out, but at the time it looked like an overpay.
To be fair though, this was before teams started seriously overvaluing prospects. Now way a team trades a giolito for an Eaton Olin today’s game, let alone giolito+
Okay, so first off Eaton had great defense before he got hurt.
Second, Eaton's skill set and aging was irrelevant as we got him in his prime. He was 28. And he posted 120+ wRC+ efforts in his first two, injury-riddles season. The reason he didnt continue to post 4-6 WAR seasons was because of the injury he sustained after the trade.
This tradeline completely blows your premise of teams overvaluing prospects out of the water. The White Sox traded a top 50 prospect for Craig Kimbrel. The Dodgers gave up a top 50 prospect for a year and change of Trea Turner. The Phillies gave up their version of Giolito for Kyle Gibson. The Mets and Yankees both gave up top10 prospects in their systems for two month rentals.
Rutledge (aka, Alex Meyer 2.0) and a backup catcher aint going to get you premium level talent, in their primes, on incredibly team friendly contracts.
You want them, the deal starts with one of Soto, Cavalli, Ruiz, or Gray.