All Things Bubba

The Photoshop elves have been busy. Paul Janish has already been put into a Braves uniform. Looks like he'll be wearing #4.

And it's official: he's on the Braves 25-man roster. He is expected to be in the starting lineup tomorrow. Just in time for Extra Innings free preview week!

I was surprised that Tyler Pastornicky was on the Braves roster today, since he was playing in AAA just yesterday. I guess he was an emergency call up, and might be sent down to make room for Janish.

Gonzalez indicated that Pastornicky might not stay long in the majors. The Braves want to groom him into a utility man. Pastornicky has started nine games at second base for Gwinnett and made no errors. He also has been practicing in the outfield.

“We were forced to bring him up,” Gonzalez said.

The Braves' starting SS, Andrelton Simmons, is out 4-6 weeks with a broken finger. Pastornicky was a stopgap, then Jack Wilson was injured yesterday (dislocated finger). They aren't DLing him, at least not yet, but they needed a shortstop. They were already trying to trade for one, and Wilson's injury made it more urgent.

Looks like there was something of a bidding war for Janish. The Braves got him, and say he was their first choice.

With Andrelton Simmons expected to miss at least six weeks with a fractured right pinky finger, the Braves have spent the past week attempting to land a shortstop. Janish provides them a solid defender who has showed some flashes of offensive potential.

"In evaluating after Simmons was hurt, and talking with our scouts, we thought Janish was the best defensive shortstop out there that we could acquire," said general manager Frank Wren, who added that the Braves were one of three teams in the bidding for the 29-year-old. "He was the No. 1 guy on our list. He did a great job for Cincinnati last year in 80 games at short and 20-something games the year before. He's a proven defensive talent, and we felt like for our club that was the most important aspect of the acquisition."

According to this post, the Yankees' Ramiro Pena was another player they were interested in.

Wren said the Braves were looking at “three or four” shortstops. He did not name other players the team pursued but Yankees minor-leaguer Ramiro Pena is believed to be one.

Wren said that the Braves had been in talks with several teams since early in the week, even before Wilson was hurt, but circumstances made Janish, who is a three-year player, their top priority.

"We were the pursuers, so you can't necessarily dictate the timetable. They had other clubs," Wren said. "We had a list of like three or four guys that we were inquiring about, but he was our No. 1 guy for sure. He was the guy our Major League scouts and the defensive matrix, every aspect of it, showed he was the best guy."

Matt Andrews, the Bats radio announcer, said he first got wind of the trade when he saw Todd Redmond shake hands with his teammates, leave the bullpen, and fire up his cell phone. He thought Redmond had been called up. But no, he just switched dugouts. (He's on the 40-man, but assigned to the Bats.) It was Janish who was headed to the big leagues. He told Matt before he left that he was headed for Atlanta.

I'm a little sorry to see Janish leave, but this is a great opportunity for him. The Reds are so deep at SS right now that Janish probably was not getting called up unless someone was injured. Looks like he has a very good chance of sticking in the big leagues for the rest of this year with the Braves. Simmons is out for six weeks, maybe longer. By the time he gets back, they'll have expanded rosters.

Hal McCoy predicted this. He said he thought the Reds would trade Janish to a team that would put him on their big league roster, "out of respect for him."

Labels: Paul Janish