By Jonathan Lee
July 31, 2012

The Braves in the end didn’t get Ryan Dempster, but they did find help for their rotation by trading for Paul Maholm from the Cubs.  They also got a solid fourth outfielder in the deal in Reed Johnson sending pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino to Chicago.

Fellow NL East rival Philadelphia decided to sell sending two-thirds of its outfield (Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence) to the NL West.  While these moves didn’t directly impact Atlanta, it did improve two key competitors for the playoffs.

The Braves actually got stronger with Maholm replacing Jair Jurrjens in the rotation, but that doesn’t show in the projections.  That is because several other contender – namely L.A., San Francisco, and Pittsburgh – also improved themselves and became more likely for the two Wild Card spots.  Atlanta is slightly less likely for both the NL East and the playoffs after the deadline.

Philadelphia actually did not get significantly worse despite losing what appeared to be two key position players.  Pence and Victorino weren’t having their typical offensive seasons, and the Phillies are in better health heading into the end of the year.  That probably means unloading those two contracts were a very good move in order to focus on competing in 2013 and beyond.