Braves send IF Tony Pena to Kansas City

Late Friday, the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals completed a deal that would send Braves' infielder, Tony Pena Jr. in exchange for for the Royal's pitcher, Erik Cordier. Pena is an excellent defender that over the past few weeks has showed some pop in his bat. He will likely battle the Royal's current shortstop, Angel Berroa for the starting role. Erick Cordier is a hard throwing starter that can top 98 MPH, but has missed a lot of time due to injuries. He missed all of the 2005 season and then needed to have Tommy John surgery in 2006, but when he returns(Probably in 2008, to be safe) he has the potential to be a very good starter.

"With this deal, we acquire a real power arm," Braves general manager John Schuerholz said. "He's a pitcher who -- before his Tommy John surgery -- was ranked near the top of [the Royals'] prospect list."

From the Braves Journal:

Erik Cordier is a bit more than a miscellaneous live arm; he was the Royals’ second-round pick in 2004 out of a Green Bay high school. However, he’s had a number of injuries, arm and otherwise, which have limited him to 21 career starts. He missed all of 2005 and needed Tommy John surgery during 2006. He won’t be able to throw for awhile. However, when he could throw he allegedly hit 98 on the radar gun, and next season he’ll be all of 22 years old.

The Braves take out the Pirates in extras.

Martin Prado provided the extra inning heroics today with a RBI on a fielder's choice. John Smoltz oozed a mixture of awesomeness and dominance that would make Nolan Ryan shed a tear. Smoltz pitched 2 innings, gave up only one hit and struck out 3. Also making their first appearances for the Braves this pre-season were newly acquired Mike Gonzalez who had some rust, he pitched 1 inning and gave up a two-run homer in the 6th inning but he did have a strike out, Bob Wickman who also pitched one inning gave up no runs but did allow a couple of hits and Oscar Villarreal who gave up a homer in the 7th and struck out 2 batters.

At the plate, the Braves received the fireworks from Jeff Francoeur in the 5th inning courtesy to a solo bomb that at the time tied the game at one run a piece. Martin provided 2 RBI's including like I mentioned earlier, the game winner and James Jurries and Iker Franco each supplied an RBI.

Pirates- 4
Braves- 5

Braves improve to 2-0 in Spring Training and their next game Tim Hudson will make his first start on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 ET, when the Braves host the Astros.