Atlanta Braves Trade For Mark Teixeira

The Atlanta Braves are close to finalizing a deal that will net them 1B Mark Teixeira from the Texas Rangers for C/1B Jarrod Saltalamacchia, P Elvis Andrus, P Matt Harrison, and P Neftali Feliz.

The one and only blockbuster that will happen before the trading deadline as Teixeira was the only bigtime player on the market. The Braves net the power hitting Teixeira, who is also a very solid defnder at 1B. The Rangers get the ultra-talented Saltalamacchia and a trio of very interesting pitching prospects. This will give the Braves a loaded lineup and enough firepower to battle the Mets, while the Rangers get young for a player that probably wouldn't have re-signed with them after the 2008 season. It looks like a win/win, but for this trade to balance out over its entirety, the Braves will need to re-sign Teixeira, or win the World Series in 2007 or 2008.

Fantasy Impact: Teixeira and Saltalamacchia are the players of note here.

Teixeira's overall fantasy value should go up. He was isolated in a weak lineup without protection in Texas, and he's projected to hit cleanup behind Renteria and Chipper, and then ahead of Andruw/Francouer/McCann. It's an amazing set of players around him. The only concern is that Teixeira is a career .302 hitter at Arlington, but a .264 hitter on the road. He's hit 84 HR at home, but 69 on the road in the exact same number of AB. The road HR ratio still projects to be 32.5 per season (based on 620 AB), so expecting about 10-12 HR the rest of the way from him seems reasonable. He could be a monster in R/RBI if he can find a way to hit .280.

Saltalamacchia is also a winner here. With Texas completely out of the playoff picture, he'll get a chance to play every day, in a very hitter friendly lineup, with C eligiblity in fantasy leagues. I'm not sure what position he'll play the rest of the year, but he's too talented of a hitter to stay at the C position long term. He could be one of the more valuable fantasy C over the last 2 months of the season.