Braves Trade with Division Rival for Uggla

The Atlanta Braves acquired power hitter second baseman Dan Uggla, from the division rival Florida Marlins, for pitcher Mike Dunn and infielder Omar Infante.A mere 16 days after the last out of the World Series, the Atlanta Braves bolstered the middle of their line up with a two time All-Star coming off of a season in which he set career highs with: 33 home runs; 105 RBI; a batting average of (.287); an on base percentage of (.369); as well as an on base slugging percentage of (.877). He also won the NL Silver Slugger Award, given to the best hitting second baseman.

The Braves lose an All-Star of their own in Omar Infante who as a utility man had a career high batting average of .321 accompanied by 8 home runs and 47 RBI. In Dunn they lose a young southpaw who as a rookie had 27 strikeouts against 17 walks with 19 innings pitched in 25 appearances.

Braves general manager, Frank Wren, hopes to offset the loss of bench production from Infante with the recent acquisition of infielder-outfield Joe Mather claimed of waivers from St. Louis. The Braves also plan to take a gander at free agents Matt Diaz and Eric Hinske.

The Braves plan to play Uggla at second base and move Martin Prado, himself an All-Star, to left field as well as third if/when Chipper is not healthy enough to play.

When interviewed on an Atlanta morning radio show the day after the trade, Braves manager Freddie Gonzalez compared his feeling to that of opening a present on Christmas Day.