The Major League Baseball trading deadline may be a few weeks away, but the Atlanta Braves have already made a move to solidify the team as it tries to make the postseason for the first time since 2005. The team sent struggling shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for shortstop Alex Gonzalez. The trade included several other minor leaguers exchanged with Jo-Jo Reyes heading to Toronto’s organization with the Braves receiving lefthanded pitcher Tim Collins and shortstop prospect Tyler Pastornicky. Gonzalez will be quite a change from Escobar at shortstop as Escobar has struggled all season long, going homerless for Atlanta with only 19 RBI and a .238 batting average. The Braves newest addition meanwhile entered the all-star break with 17 home runs and 50 RBI with a .259 average. Gonzalez, 33 years-old compared to the 27-year-old Escobar, also led the AL with 43 extra-base hits upon his arrival to Atlanta to form a double-play combo with Martin Prado, leading the majors in hits. Said Braves GM Frank Wren in a team release, “This trade improves our club for the second half of the season. We have been looking at ways to strengthen our club offensively and Alex Gonzalez is a proven veteran player who gives us added power. He is a winner and a solid offensive presence in the lineup as well as a quality defensive shortstop."
The other pieces involved may have put this trade over the top in Atlanta’s favor, while the Braves lose a 27-year-old shortstop with great defensive abilities that the Braves could control contract-wise for three more years, Gonzalez is under contract through the end of this season and has an option for next year. If the Braves decide that after 2011 to let Gonzalez go, Tyler Pastornicky could be ready to go at shortstop. A former fifth-round pick by Toronto in 2008, the twenty-year-old has hit .258 in 77 games this year in Class-A Dunedin. Pastornicky has also thumped six homers while driving in 35 runs and stolen 24 bases. The exit of Escobar also potentially clears the way for the recently signed 18-year-old Edward Salcedo or the team’s first round pick of the 2010 draft Matt Lipka out of McKinney (TX) HS, who was thought to be on the move to outfield. All three players likely wouldn’t see any action higher than Class AA this season however.
As far Collins, some have compared the twenty-year-old lefty to Giants ace Tim Lincecum due to his small stature and big abilities. Thus far this season with Toronto’s Class AA team, Collins has appeared in 35 games, striking out 73 in 43.0 innings of work. Collins has walked just 16 while allowing hitters just a .174 average. His ERA this season is 2.51 after being named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star last year and a Baseball America Class-A All-Star in 2008. In his Class-AA debut for the Braves, Collins was perfect in two innings, striking out five for Mississippi.
It is certainly becoming dangerous to pitch to Braves All-Star catcher Brian McCann with the bases loaded. In a crucial tilt against the Phillies before the All-Star Break, McCann emptied the bases with a double and then did the same in the All-Star game, helping the National League get its first victory in 13 tries. In the recent series finale against Milwaukee, McCann unloaded once again with the bases loaded and recorded his sixth career grand slam in an 11-6 Braves win. McCann’s grand slam was part of a five-run inning that helped the Braves win yet another series. In the last twenty series entering the San Diego series, Atlanta had won fifteen, split four and lost just one series, on the road against the Chicago White Sox, the best team in the AL Central.
Finally, Tommy Hanson recently was asked by SportsByFletch if he felt any extra pressure when he goes out to the bump, knowing that this is manager Bobby Cox’s final season on the bench. “It’d be nice to send Bobby out on a good note, but that’s what you’re here for anyways. You’re here to win baseball games to begin with so with the team we have here we just need to keep doing what we’re doing and it’ll be fine.”
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