Saturday night, the Diamondbacks and Braves announced a trade that left the masses perplexed. Utility man Phil Gosselin was sent to Arizona for injured starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo and pitching prospect Touki Toussaint. With the Braves reportedly picking up the rest of Arroyo's salary, it appears they essentially bought a prospect here.

The bare bones:

- Arroyo is expected back in August at the earliest from Tommy John surgery. He's making $9.5 million this season and has an option for 2016 worth $13 million (with a $4.5 million buyout if it's not picked up). He's 38 years old and went 26-22 with a 3.76 ERA in his last two full seasons.

- Gosselin, 26, is a career .282/.321/.345 hitter in 70 games. He can play second, third, shortstop or outfield, though he's best suited at either second or third. He's also sidelined with a broken thumb and will be out another four weeks.

- Toussaint is 19 years old and was the D-Backs' first-round pick last season out of high school. Baseball America ranked him as the 71st-best prospect in all of baseball this past spring and he's said to have "top of the rotation" potential by the time he develops. It won't be for a bit, though, as he is in Class A right now, where he has a 3.69 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 39 innings.

The part that makes this deal so funny is the giving up Toussaint for a piece that seems unnecessary and redundant. The D-Backs have Chris Owings (23 years old) at second, Nick Ahmed (25) at shortstop and Jake Lamb (24) at third. The outfield is so crowded that they've been using Yasmany Tomas (24) at third base as well. On the bench, the D-Backs have Aaron Hill and Cliff Pennington for depth pieces. The offense ranks second in the NL in runs scored, by the way.

Further, at 33-35, it's hardly like Arizona was looking to trade away prospect depth to add a final piece in July for a playoff push. Those are defensible at times. This wasn't that, though.

Maybe it was a salary dump?

That would be even more odd. The Phoenix area hardly qualifies for a "small market" (it's actually in the top half of the league) and the Diamondbacks just signed a $1 billion TV deal this past February.

On wanting Gosselin, Arizona GM Dave Stewart offered the following (via the Arizona Republic):

"He's a gritty, tough competitive type infielder," Stewart said. "He plays second, short, third -- a utility type role player. Our scouting reports liken him to (Dodgers infielder Justin) Turner. Not the same kind of power, but he possesses that same kind of ability to hit and put the ball in the gaps."

Again with the "gritty!" Fun times. Remember, previous GM Kevin Towers traded Justin Upton in an effort to make the team more gritty. So the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Not surprisingly, the prospect/scouting community didn't love this move for Arizona:

There was a lot more, but that's the general idea.

It needs to be noted, of course, that Stewart also told reporters they love their young starting pitching depth across the organization. If that's the case and they wanted to deal Toussaint, most scouting outlets have already noted that they surely could've gotten a lot more back than Gosselin/salary relief.

It'll be several years before we know what the Braves got in Toussaint, but we do know the D-Backs gave him up in order to 1) shed salary and 2) add a guy with limited upside at an area where they're already teeming with quality young players and depth.

Touki Toussaint, back in his amateur days.
Touki Toussaint, back in his amateur days. (USATSI)