Stephen Marek Outrighted To Gwinnett

The Braves shuffled their 40-man roster by outrighting J.C. Boscan, Wilkin Ramirez, Antoan Richardson and Stephen Marek to Triple-A Gwinnett. The moves aren’t surprising as none of these players were among the top 30 prospects in the Braves’ system according to Baseball America and the team needed to start clearing space on the 40-man roster. The open spots will go to players the Braves want to protect from the Rule V draft.

The name of note here, for me, is Marek. In 2008, Marek was traded along with Casey Kotchman from the Angels to the Braves in exchange for Mark Teixeira. As an Angels fan by nature, I was thrilled with that deal and it’s not looking great from the Braves side. After getting fleeced by the Rangers for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Neftali Feliz for Teixeira a year earlier, the Braves couldn’t cash in flipping Teixeira during his walk year.

Kotchman had a surprising year in 2011, hitting .306/.378/.422 with a 2.8 fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement). But it was with the Rays, the second team Kotchman has played for after leaving Atlanta.

Marek, already 28-years-old somehow, is destined to be a reliever but has shown flashes of a 10+ K/9 ratio. His ride to the Braves bullpen was derailed in May when Marek had to make the dreaded trip to see Dr. James Andrews and undergo Tommy John surgery. The elbow reconstruction surgery is a 12-month rehabilitation process and will keep Marek out of action until mid-next-season.