8:40am: Dave O’Brien was right – the Braves chose Tyler Yates as the out of options reliever to deal.  They sent him to the Pirates today for a minor league hurler named Todd Redmond.  On Monday, O’Brien said he expected the Braves to trade one of Scott Thorman or Brayan Pena as well.

Yates, a 30 year-old Hawaiin, has a solid 8.3 per nine innings strikeout rate in his 162 inning career.  He needs to work on his control though. Yates was drafted by the A’s and dealt to the Mets in the Dave Justice deal.  Baseball America says he began ’04 as the Mets’ fifth starter but was shortly converted to relief.  He missed the ’05 season with rotator cuff surgery.  His acquisition may push Jaret Wright or Byung-Hyun Kim out of Pittsburgh.

Redmond, 23 in May, was ranked as the Pirates’ #27 prospect by Baseball America.  They note his "outstanding control" but lack of dominant stuff.  BA believes he profiles as a middle reliever in the long term.

Wright gets $800K if he makes the Major League roster and has incentives based on relieving or starting.  Obviously Wright needs to get healthy again; he missed most of ’07 with shoulder woes.

Wright is the poster boy for good timing, signing a three-year, $21MM deal with the Yankees in December of ’04 after Leo Mazzone coaxed 15 wins out of him in ’03.

Wright, who turns 31 soon, could benefit from a reunion with pitching coach Leo Mazzone.  Still, the over/under on his innings pitched is 150.  Wright is hard-pressed to make 30 starts or go past five innings in any of those. I would call 2007 a success for him if he posts an ERA below 5.  I have my doubts on that.

Besides Wright not being very good, another reason I dislike the deal for Baltimore is that they already have a staff of guys who don’t go deep into games.  Erik Bedard, Adam Loewen, and Daniel Cabrera average less than six innings per start, while Kris Benson and Rodrigo Lopez a touch over six.  The Orioles needed a Jason Jennings, a Freddy Garcia, a Jon Garland in my opinion.  Guys who go seven innings more often than not. 

Basically the Orioles managed to both increase their already heavy reliance on a lousy bullpen while subtracting one of their better relievers.

Britton, who turns 24 soon, is a big guy who throws strikes.  He has a couple of decent pitches and can be a useful bullpen piece for New York.  The deal is a clear win for the Yankees.  Getting Wright out of the rotation is a plus, and adding a warm body to the bullpen is just gravy.   

First the Yankees have to choose whether to buy Wright out for $4MM or pay him $7MM for the 2007 season.  If they don’t buy him out and do trade him to the Orioles, Wright could be reunited with former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone.  Wright had his only full season success under Mazzone in 2004.

Otherwise perhaps the Orioles would just sign Wright to a free agent contract.