The Braves finally have their closer.
Atlanta acquired RHP Shane Greene from the Detroit Tigers for prospects that will be named later. Buster Olney broke the news just moments ago.
Braves get Shane Greene, pending medicals
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 31, 2019
Look no further than today’s game in Washington as to why the Braves needed to bring in another option at the back-end of their bullpen. Luke Jackson has served admirably but was always trying to fill shoes three sizes too large. He will fit much better in a set-up role.
Shane Greene, who has one more year of arbitration control remaining, was having a career-year in Detroit. He has 22 saves, a 1.18 ERA, and 0.868 WHIP heading into August. On top of that, Greene’s another low walk guy and strikes out over ten batters per nine innings. In all likelihood, he will become the Braves closer for the rest of the season. Chris Martin, who the Braves acquired yesterday, should serve as a setup man – along with Luke Jackson, Sean Newcomb, and Anthony Swarzak. Tell me that doesn’t sound a lot better than what the Braves sent out there today.
In exchange, the Tigers will bring back Joey Wentz and Travis Demeritte. Wentz is a guy several of us were high on here at SportsTalkATL. We ranked him as the #5 prospect in the Braves system. However, the Braves prospects 5-11 were all somewhat interchangeable. At the end of the day, they were going to have to deal some of these guys, and Wentz is worth it for an All-Star closer.
Demeritte was ranked 19th in the Braves system by us. He is having a spectacular year in AAA and is probably ready for major league ball. But Atlanta never had a place for him on the roster, and one was not going to open up in the future either.
Atlanta currently sits 6.5 games ahead of Washington in the NL East with the back third of the season remaining.
We will continue to update you on the details of this trade right here on SportsTalkATL.
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