The Braves and the Brewers completed a trade on Wednesday, which sent C Henry Blanco from Milwaukee to Atlanta for RHP Jose Cabrera and C Paul Bako.

Atlanta was looking for a defensive upgrade over Bako and Eddie Perez, their two back-up catcher candidates. Depending on who you ask, Blanco rates anywhere from second to fifth of active defensive catchers, so he is certainly at the top of the list. He will take over as Greg Maddux's personal catcher and the defensive back-up to Javy Lopez. Maddux has never liked throwing to Lopez and so has almost always used the other catcher on the Braves' roster. That job belonged to Perez for some time, but he lost the position to Bako when he was injured last season. Now Perez, only a non-roster invitee, will likely try to find major league work on another team rather than sit in the minors until the Braves need him again.

Manager Davy Lopes and GM Dean Taylor think that they should be able to use Cabrera for a greater number of innings than some of their other bullpen candidates, as he has been known to pitch 2 innings at a time and does fairly well on back-to-back days. The Brewers currently value that attribute in a pitcher because so many of their starters and even relievers are injury-prone or already injured. Consequently having the ability to go to the bullpen a little earlier and knowing that you have a reliable reliever has increased importance for them.

Milwaukee actually already had a number of bullpen candidates, but almost all were accompanied by an assortment of questions. Curt Leskanic has been recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, so he likely won't be ready to break camp with the team. Chad Fox has been the team's projected closer, but he recently had an MRI done on his sore elbow and is awaiting the results. Mike DeJean is next in line to close. However, if both Leskanic and Fox are out at the same time, their right-handed depth begins to disappear, leaving them with Mike Buddie as the final right-hander in the pen. Paul Rigdon was a possibility for long relief, but he may be needed to start if Nick Nueugebauer isn't ready for Opening Day. Ray King and Valerio de los Santos figure to be the lefties out of the pen, though de los Santos is recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Even their off-season Japanese pick-up has been struggling with health problems. While they are eager for lefty Takahito Nomura to make the team and validate their exploration of the eastern market, it doesn't look as though it is going to happen. Mexican League non-roster invitee Francisco Campos has also been somewhat impressive in Spring Training and reportedly has some chance of taking a rotation spot. I think there would have to be more than one injury in the rotation for that to happen, but that always seems to be a possibility with Milwaukee. At this time, I don't think he'll be needed in the rotation, so he could have been used in long relief in the bullpen.

Bako doesn't have the same kind of defensive skills that Blanco possesses, but he isn't bad behind the plate. However, he's also not much of an offensive upgrade. If used only against righties he should be an improvement, but he's a ground ball hitter, so he won't be able to take full advantage of the homer potential of Miller Park. Bako is also only ten months younger than Blanco, so he can't even claim growth upside over Blanco.

This is the first trade Atlanta GM John Schuerholz has made with his former protégé Taylor. I tend to prefer the outcome of this trade for the Brewers over the Braves. They add depth and experience to a bullpen that needs help due to the organization-wide injury troubles. Bako is an acceptable back-up, and Casanova is free to start. Meanwhile, Atlanta loses depth from a bullpen already weakened by the free agent losses of Steve Karsay, Steve Reed, and Rudy Seanez. Blanco is a defensive upgrade, but Bako has good defense so the improvement isn't that substantial.

An increasing number of reports have been declaring that Jeff Kent's wrist injury was the result of a motorcycle, and not a truck washing, accident. There are now accounts of a motorcycle accident in Scottsdale, Arizona near the Giants Spring Training facility in which eyewitnesses say the victim was popping wheelies when he crashed. There was also a Giants' Spring Training rental van in the area as well as the truck Kent was supposedly washing. One jogger even claims to have identified Kent as the bike rider, though the police, who have a report on the accident, since witnesses called emergency vehicles, say they do not have a record of that identification.

If the Giants can confirm this alternate version of events, the Giants would reportedly have the right to void his contract or dock his pay (something close to $33K/per day) for the time lost. Kent's contract specifically prevents him from riding motorcycles because of the high risk of injury. I can't see them ever releasing Kent, as he should return soon and they need his production. However, GM Brian Sabean has commented that if these reports are confirmed, then fines are a very real possibility.

While it's a tough call, I've got to say that popping wheelies on a motorcycle you aren't supposed to be riding in the first place is an even less intelligent method of injuring yourself than climbing six feet in the air on top of the cab of a slippery pickup truck. Believing that you might still be able to successfully lie about the matter even with eyewitnesses at the scene of the accident can't involve any use of cognitive thinking. Kent's recovery is moving along ahead of schedule, so he is currently expected to be ready for Opening Day.