The Atlanta Braves have traded starting pitcher Derek Lowe to the Cleveland Indians. No word yet on what the team will get in return; my guess: piece of mind.
According to SI's Jon Heyman, the Braves will get an A-ball minor league pitcher in return, but mainly they will be getting $5 million of salary relief. It looks like Atlanta will pick up $10 million of Lowe's remaining $15 million contract for next season.
This is essentially a pure salary dump for the Braves, as they try to get rid of as much of Lowe's salary as they can. Whatever player they get in return is just there to make the trade appear as though it isn't a complete salary dump (though it is).
Even though the Braves will only save $5 million in this deal, every penny is important in assembling next year's team. As I said at the beginning of the off-season, the Braves already have more money committed in salaries for next year's team than they paid out to this year's team. This move means they don't "have" to trade Jair Jurrjens or Martin Prado this off-season -- a move they may have been forced to make before this Lowe trade in order to clear salary.
The Braves will receive left-handed pitcher Chris Jones from Cleveland in the trade. He was a 15th-round pick by the Indians out of high school in 2007. Here is a link to his stats. As a prospect, he's nothing to get too excited about. Prospect guru Kevin Goldstein had to say about him:
New Braves LHP Chris Jones has average velo, a good breaking ball and tons of deception. LHB can't touch him. Potential LOOGY.
So the Braves basically replace Eliecer Cardenas, the right-handed pitcher who was the player to be named later in the Matt Diaz trade, with a left-handed version. Cardenas is a potential ROOGY.