UPDATE, 1-12-08 at 5:01pm: According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, an agreement is in place for the A’s to send Kotsay to the Braves for reliever Joey Devine. The A’s will also eat $5.325MM of Kotsay’s ’08 salary, leaving the Braves on the hook for only $2MM. Essentially Billy Beane bought Devine.
UPDATE, 1-11-08 at 3:54pm: MLB.com’s Mychael Urban has a source who believes the Braves would not pay more than $3MM of Kotsay’s $8MM salary.
FROM 1-11-08 at 3:09pm:
David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution just posted his upcoming story in the comments of his blog. He says Billy Beane called Mark Kotsay this morning, informing him that he is discussing a trade with Atlanta. The Braves would get salary relief and give up a mid-level prospect, as expected.
