Atlanta Braves Trade Deadline Report

The Atlanta Braves had quite a busy trade deadline. They made a huge move in acquiring Texas Rangers' 1B Mark Teixeira. For the Braves this is the biggest mid-season trade since 1993 when the Braves acquired 1B Fred McGriff from the San Diego Padres. The Teixeira trade goes down on paper like this:

Braves Acquire
1B Mark Teixeira
LHP Ron Mahay

Rangers Acquire
C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
SS Elvis Andrus (Minor Leaguer)
LHP Matt Harrison (Minor Leaguer)
LHP Beau Jones (Minor Leaguer)
RHP Neftali Perez (Minor Leaguer)

I really like this trade. Teixeira will be placed into the cleanup spot in the lineup and is a force and should get Chipper Jones some more pitches to hit. He will also allow Andruw to get some more pitches to hit. The Braves lineup is clearly the best in the NL now with this trade. The Braves lineup will look like this now:

Braves Lineup
1. Willie Harris LF
2. Edgar Renteria SS
3. Chipper Jones 3B
4. Mark Teixeira 1B
5. Andruw Jones CF
6. Brian McCann C
7. Jeff Francoeur RF
8. Kelly Johnson 2B

Another trade made was this trade:

Braves Acquire
RHP Octavio Dotel

Royals Acquire
RHP Kyle Davies

I like this trade also. Kyle Davies gets a chance for a fresh start with the Royals and will be placed into the starting rotation right away. Dotel has postseason experience and is a flame thrower that will serve in a setup role in the 7th or 8th inning. And third and final the Braves made this trade:

Braves Acquire
LHP Royce Ring

Padres Acquire
LHP Wilfredo Ledezma
LHP Will Startup (Minor Leaguer)

This was another good trade by John Schueholz. Ledezma was acquired for Macay McBride back in June in hopes that the Braves would be able to use him in a starter's role hoping he would be more effective. That never happened has the Braves didn't have the chance needing his left arm in the bullpen to try to get out lefties. He struggled mightly giving up runs in half of his 12 appearances and was designated for assignment last Sunday. Will Startup had around a 2 ERA at Triple-A Richmond this year and seems likely to become a very good bullpen guy in the future. The Braves received Royce Ring who had a 1.99 ERA for the Padres at Triple-A this year. Ring has big league experience with the Mets and Padres and could help the Braves in Atlanta later on this year if the situation calls for it. For now he is gonna serve time at Triple-A Richmond.