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Acquisition of Shane Greene and Mark Melancon put the Atlanta Braves firmly in world series contention

Home » MLB » Atlanta Braves » Acquisition of Shane Greene and Mark Melancon put the Atlanta Braves firmly in world series contention

The Atlanta Braves traded for Shane Greene and Mark Melancon in the last hour of the trade deadline. For Greene the Braves sent Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte to the Detroit Tigers(as reported by Buster Olney). They sent Tristan Beck and Dan Winkler to the San Francisco Giants for Melancon(as reported by Robert Murray). . After acquiring Chris Martin these last minute trades have transformed the back end of the Braves bullpen.

The Braves have had one of the worst bullpens in the majors this season and badly needed reinforcements before the postseason. With these deals they have achieved that. The best part is that they have not given up any of their key prospects. With Ian Anderson, Christian Pache and Drew Waters still in the farm system they are setup to have a run in October but still have ways to improve over the next few years.

In Beck, Demeritte and Wentz the Braves have given up lower ranked prospects that are not needed with the Braves current young roster. Demeritte is a 2013 pick that may be finally about to break into the majors but there is no room for him on the Braves infield. Beck is a pitching prospect that is yet to climb to the minors and is borderline whether he will make it as a starter, even if he does he will be blocked by the Braves’ current young relievers. Wentz is a better pitching prospect but even he has a number of prospects in front of him and that is before you consider Max Fried and Mike Soroka, who will be in the rotation for years to come.

The fourth player given up, Dan Winkler, has pitched out of the bullpen in the major leagues with mixed results. He has an intriguing high fastball spin rate, it will be interesting to see what the Giants do with him after putting together an elite bullpen in the offseason. Despite the upside of Winkler, the Braves need more reliable production from their relievers if they are to compete in October. That is just what they will get from their new relievers.

The Braves have managed to turnover their bullpen which will make a big difference if they are to have postseason success. They also have done this without having to change their position of developing and bringing through their highly rated prospects. Going forward we can expect more teams to concentrate on these kinds of deals rather than moving big value free agents.

       

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