After trading CR-R Wes Helms and LHP John Foster to Milwaukee for LHP Ray King on Monday, Atlanta dealt LHP Damian Moss and RHP Manuel Mateo to San Francisco for RHP Russ Ortiz on Tuesday.

King was originally drafted by the Reds out of Lambuth University in the eighth round of the 1995 draft, but they loaned him to Atlanta at the beginning of the following season and traded him as soon as the obligatory year after his signing had passed. Atlanta dealt him to the Cubs in 1998 before he made his debut, and while he had his first cup of coffee with Chicago, they traded him to Milwaukee in 2000. Although the 28-year-old struggled in his first few years, over the past two seasons he's displayed solid skills and provided the Brewers with a strong lefty reliever.

After losing Mike Remlinger and Chris Hammond to free agency, Atlanta wanted to obtain a quality southpaw to fill the hole in the pen. Milwaukee was willing to trade their established pitcher for a younger pitcher with upside and another infield option.

Prior to the trade, Helms agreed to a one-year, $575,000 contract with the Braves. His plate discipline reflects the repeated interruptions to his development by injuries. However, he possesses significant power potential and could blossom if healthy for a complete season.

As Atlanta's former third base coach, Milwaukee Manager Ned Yost is familiar with both players the Brewers acquired in the deal. Yost's experience with Helms gives Wes an edge over Keith Ginter for the starting job at third base. Although I believe Ginter has more potential than Helms, Keith will likely serve as a reserve for the Brewers covering second and third off the bench. Milwaukee intends to non-tender the arbitration-eligible Ron Belliard, who broke his thumb playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic.

Foster spent most of 2002 at AAA with a couple brief call-ups to the majors. While in AAA, he compiled a 48:28 K:BB with 67 H and 5 HR allowed in 62 IP for a 4.21 ERA. He's had mild control troubles throughout his minor league career and could probably use some additional time at AAA to correct those problems. However while Valerio de los Santos will take over as the Brewers primary lefty, Foster will compete in Spring Training for a spot in the pen.

I think Atlanta definitely received the better end of this deal. The Braves needed a high-end lefty, King is signed for only $380,000 this year, and they hold a $1M option for 2004. Helms isn't likely to develop into anything great is already eligible for arbitration. Meanwhile, Foster will cost only slightly less than King if in the majors this year and likely won't reach King's level for a few more years if at all.

Unfortunately, I don't think quite as much of the trade the Braves made on Tuesday. While the 26-year-old Moss still has a number of control problems to resolve, Ortiz suffers from a similar problem despite his additional experience. Despite GM John Schuerholz's comments to the contrary, the 28-year-old Ortiz was not the Giants ace last season; former Brave Jason Schmidt filled that role. Ortiz is a solid pitcher but no more, and Atlanta should not be spending the additional money on their rotation with their offense still in need of attention.

Mateo spent last season at the Braves' Rookie-level Gulf Coast affiliate, where the 20-year-old compiled a 76:12 K:BB with 47 H and no homers allowed in 68.1 IP for a 1.98 ERA in 12 G, including 8 starts. Although Atlanta signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 1999, he'd only played in the summer league to this point. While Mateo dominated this past season, he was old for his league. Consequently, I'd prefer to see his stats from full-season ball and the upper levels of the minors before trying to predict his upside.

Brian Sabean has done more than I expected this off-season to prepare his team for another run at the World Series. The Giants were committed to trading Ortiz in order to gain salary relief, but rather than settle for minimal compensation merely to dump the contract, Sabean procured a promising lefty and a wildcard minor leaguer.

In addition to their trades, the Braves also signed RHP Paul Byrd to a two-year, $10M contract. Atlanta's signing of Byrd came as quite a surprise in tandem with the acquisition of Ortiz. Either the team doesn't agree with the popular belief that Greg Maddux will accept arbitration, forcing them to agree to a multi-year proposal or face the enormous sum he's likely to receive from a board of arbiters, or they intend to send Jason Marquis back to the bullpen.

Byrd lives near Atlanta and was highly interested in returning to the team he pitched for in 1997 and 1998. The 32-year-old had a career year in 2002, perhaps indicating that now he's recovered from his shoulder problems he'll be able to pitch at a higher level. However, he's not traditionally maintained a high skill level with his performance relying on his control. I think Schuerholz is walking a thin line in acquiring these pitchers, not to mention Mike Hampton, and expecting that none of them are going to fall from their weakly supported heights.