Last night saw a flurry of trade activity. None of the players involved was rumored to be coming to Atlanta. The main development for the Braves purposes is the signal that the Pirates have definitely given up. At least two Pirate pitchers are rumored Braves trade targets.

Interest in Kristin Benson has dropped off after his bad start and the Pirates pulling him from the rotation to “work on mechanics, strength, and endurance”. Of late, rumors have surfaced of the Braves’ interest instead in Jeff Suppan. Suppan has pitched pretty well, 9-7 with a 3.67 ERA. But a number of teams are supposedly interested in Suppan, and he’s a finesse pitcher with a mediocre strikeout rate. I think that the Braves are interested but Suppan will go elsewhere.

I don’t particularly care if Greg Maddux has a personal catcher or not. To me, the big problem is that his personal catcher sucks. It’s just barely possible that the Braves have noticed this and would look to bring in a replacement. If they do, who better than the Personal Catcher? Eddie Perez is hitting .304/.333/.475 for Milwaukee. Just something to keep in mind.