The Atlanta Braves have traded 28-year old switch hitting 1B Mark Teixeira to the Angels for 25-year old lefty swinging Casey Kotchman and 24-year old righty reliever Stephen Marek. Teixeira is going to be a free agent at the end of the season and the Braves weren’t going to re-sign him at the end of the season anyway so this was a solid return for him. Teixeira has played in 103 games this season for the Braves and he was 108 for 381 (.283 avg, .902 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 20 homers and 78 RBIs. The Braves will likely look to trade a couple of more veterans before the trade deadline on Thursday and it appears that they will get good value back for their players like they did in this trade.

25-year old lefty swinging Casey Kotchman doesn’t have Teixeira’s power but he’s still a solid hitter. Not only that, but he’s a tremendous defensive 1B. He played in 100 games for the Angels this season and he was 107 for 373 (.287 avg, .775 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 12 homers and 54 RBIs. Kotchman is also a fantastic contact hitter as he has only whiffed 23 times this season. Kotchman has played in 351 games in his major league career and he is 311 for 1,137 (.274 avg, .763 OPS) with 140 runs scored, 31 homers and 165 RBIs. Kotchman is a solid player and he should anchor the teams’ infield defensive for quite some time. 24-year old righty reliever Stephen Marek is one of the finest relievers in the minors and he should develop into a pitcher that can work late in games in the near future for the Braves. Marek was the Angels’ #6 prospect in their system coming into the season according to Baseball America. Marek has pitched in 34 games (0 starts) in AA ball this season and he was 2-6 with 3 saves, a 3.66 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Marek has also whiffed 57 batters in only 46.2 innings this season in the minors which shows how nasty his stuff is. This was a fine trade for both teams as Teixeira will help the Angels in the quest for a World Series Championship and Kotchman and Marek will help the Braves win in the future.

The Atlanta Braves have placed 3B Chipper Jones (strained left hamstring) and P Tim Hudson (right elbow tightness) on the 15-day disabled list. They have also send Jo Jo Reyes to AAA. To replace these three very important players the Braves have activated right reliever Jeff Bennett from the D.L. and they have recalled starting pitcher Charlie Morton and catcher Clint Sammons from AAA. The Braves will really miss Chipper Jones who was having a career year until injuries slowed him down. Jones has played in 89 games for the Braves this season and he is 117 for 317 (.369 avg, 1.062 OPS) with 58 runs scored, 18 homers and 55 RBIs. The Braves will use a combination of Omar Infante and Martin Prado at 3B until Chipper Jones returns to the lineup. Infante will likely get most of the P.T. He has played in 45 games this season for the Braves and he is 37 for 129 (.287 avg, .790 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers and 15 RBIs. Youngster Martin Prado has been waiting to get some P.T. but the Braves didn’t want him to get it this way. Prado has played in 33 games for the Braves this season and he is 19 for 71 (.268 avg, .783 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 1 homer and 14 RBIs. The Braves’ defense will likely not suffer with Jones out but the offense will…..big time.

Tim Hudson is not replaceable for the Braves. He has pitched in 23 games (22 starts) for the Braves this season and he is 11-7 with a 3.17 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Hudson has been the Braves’ true #1 starter all season long and they will miss him. Charlie Morton will replace him in the rotation. He has started 7 games for the Braves this season and he is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. The Braves have also sent down lefty starter Jo Jo Reyes as he has been rather ineffective this season. He has pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Braves this season and he was 3-9 with a 5.33 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. The Braves have activated righty reliever/starter Jeff Bennett to replace him on the pitching staff. Bennett has pitched in 41 games (4 starts) this season for the Braves and he is 1-4 with a 4.28 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.

The Braves recalled 25-year old righty hitting catcher Clint Sammons to help out while Brian McCann is dealing with a concussion he suffered over the weekend. The Braves can’t afford to be without McCann to long as he has been one of the best hitters on the team. McCann has played in 97 games for the Braves this season and he is 104 for 344 (.302 avg, .949 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 20 homers and 63 RBIs. While McCann is out Corky Miller and Clint Sammons will do the catching and that will definately hurt the Braves’ offense. Miller will likely get more than half of the playing time while McCann is out. Miller has played in 24 games for the Braves this season and he is 5 for 49 (.102 avg, .348 OPS) with 4 runs scored and 1 RBI. Miller has never been much of a hitter in the majors. Sammons was the #26 prospect in the Braves’ minor league system coming into this season according to Baseball America. He has had a rough season in AAA ball for the Braves this season. Sammons is 66 for 278 (.237 avg, .608 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 1 homer, 22 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. Sammons played in 2 games at the end of last season for the Braves and he was 2 for 3 with a double.

Losing McCann, Jones and Hudson likely means that the Braves will raise the White Flag on the 2008 season soon and trade 1B Mark Teixeira to the highest bidder by Thursday afternoon.

The Atlanta Braves have a tough decision to make on the 2008 season that likely needs to be done by next Thursday’s trading deadline. Do they raise the white flag or make a move or two to compete for the National League East? The Braves are currently 49-53 which has them 6.5 games behind the Mets in the East. The Braves likely have to focus on winning the division if they are going to add to the team as they are 9.5 games behind the surging Brewers for the Wild Card. If the Braves go for it they will likely need some bullpen help and bench help. They also might be able to use another starting pitcher as Jo Jo Reyes and Chad Morton aren’t capable of helping the team make a playoff run. Mike Hampton and Tom Glavine appear almost ready to come back from injuries but it never hurts to have another quality starting pitcher around just in case they are rusty. If the Braves become sellers in the next week Mark Teixeira, Jeff Francoeur and Mark Kotsay are likely the most marketable players that the Braves would be willing to move. Everything depends on how the Braves play from now until Thursday which will help them make up there minds.

The Braves have designated righty reliever Valdimir Nunez for assignment to make room in the bullpen for Rafael Soriano who has been activated from the D.L. Nunez pitched in 3 games for the Braves this season and he is 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. The Braves really hope that Soriano can stay healthy this time as they really need him badly. Soriano has pitched in 9 games for the Braves this season and he is 0-0 with 3 saves, a 2.00 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.

21-year old righty swinging outfielder Gorkys Hernandez was part of the haul from Detroit for Edgar Renteria over the winter and he looks like a keeper. Hernandez has played in 54 games in A-Ball this season and he is 64 for 229 (.279 avg, .778 OPS) with 38 runs scored, 4 homers, 24 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. The Braves really stuck it to the Tigers for Renteria as they also got Jair Jurrjens in that trade and he’s been outstanding. Not to mention that Yunel Escobar is outproducing Renteria this season.

26-year old lefty starting pitcher Chuck James is pitching good in AAA ball for the Braves and he could get another chance at the bigs soon. James has pitched in 11 games (10 starts) in AAA ball this season and he is 3-4 with a 2.58 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. But James has struggled this season for the Braves. He has started 5 games for the Braves this season and he is 2-3 with a 8.22 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP. With all of the problems the Braves are having this season with injuries it only makes sense that they would give James another shot if he keeps pitching well in the minors.

The Braves have signed 35-year old righty reliever Julian Tavarez to a minor league contract. Tavarez has pitched in 16 games (0 starts) this season for the Brewers & Red Sox and he is 0-2 with a 7.20 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP. The Braves probably won’t wait too long to call up Tavarez as they need help in the bullpen now due to all of the injuries they’ve suffered in the bullpen of late. Tavarez has now played in 750 games (108 starts) in his major league career and he is 84-72 with 22 saves, a 4.46 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. This was a good low risk/high reward signing for the Braves.

The Braves have placed reserve IF/OF Omar Infante on the 15-day disabled list with a strained hamstring. Infante is valuable to the Braves because he can handle any infield or outfield spot defensively and he’s a pesky little hitter. He has played in 41 games for the Braves this season and he is 31 for 110 (.282 avg, .771 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 1 homer and 11 RBIs. The Braves have recalled outfielder Jeff Francoeur from AA ball to replace Infante on the roster. He will likely get his starting job in RF back as he was solid in his brief stay in AA ball. Francoeur played in 3 games in AA ball and he was 7 for 13 (.538 avg, 1.263 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Look for Francoeur to do much better this time around with the Braves as his demotion probably awoke him from his trance this season.

The Atlanta Braves have placed righty relievers Manny Acosta and Jeff Bennett on the 15-day disabled list. Acosta has a strained hamstring and Bennett has an issue with his right shoulder. This will hurt the Braves’ bullpen which has been decimated by injuries this whole year. Acosta has pitched in 41 games for the Braves out of the bullpen this season and he is 3-5 with 3 saves, a 4.02 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. His biggest problem was walks as he had 24 of them in only 47 innings. Bennett has pitched in 41 games (4 starts) with the Braves this season and he is 1-4 with 2 saves, a 4.28 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. Bennett was valuable because he could give the Braves multiple innings in relief or make a start if they got in a pinch.

Catcher Brian McCann has had a very solid first half of the season for the Atlanta Braves. He has played in 81 games this season for the Braves and he is 87 for 292 (.298 avg, .902 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 14 homers and 47 RBIs. McCann is one of the biggest parts in the foundation of the future of the Braves as hitters like him rarely play catcher. They might even look to move him to another position later on in his career to keep his bat in the lineup more often.