The Atlanta Braves have called up some additional help from Gwinnett, adding catcher J.C. Boscan and reliever Anthony Varvaro to the roster. Boscan should allow them to use David Ross as a right-handed pinch hitter in key situations (yay!), and the hard throwing Varvaro will give the Braves bullpen yet another power arm.
The Braves also released infielder Wes Helms, who was at triple-A Gwinnett, and would have been the Braves right-handed bench bat had he not hit .176 in his nine games there, which prompted the Braves to trade for Matt Diaz. The team also DFA'ed left-hander Dustin Richardson, but he cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Gwinnett. Nice job by the Braves to claim him off waivers from Florida earlier in the year, and then retain him. He's erratic, but has a promising arm.
Newly acquired infielder Jack Wilson will likely take Richardson's spot on the 40-man roster -- pretty good roster management by Atlanta. By the way, Varvaro was a teammate of Wilson's last year in Seattle.
After the Gwinnett season (or postseason) ends in a week or two, the Braves will likely recall several more players, including Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, Cory Gearrin, Brandon Hicks, and Wilkin Ramirez. They could also recall Matt Young, just so Jose Constanza feels tall.
UPDATE 4pm
From David O'Brien we get this note about Wes Helms:
His heel is bothering him and he told Fredi he couldn't help the Braves this way. Was gracious for chance.
And he was also hitting .176, though that could have been because of the heel, I guess.