Braves trade Casey Kotchman to Red Sox for Adam LaRoche

Reports are that the Atlanta Braves have traded their current first baseman, Casey Kotchman, to the Red Sox for their former first baseman, Adam LaRoche. The deal was first reported by Jon Heyman of SI.com, then by NESN via this link. I had barely got done putting up the speculation post about this rumor, when it was confirmed to be true. As I said in that post, this is not really a trade upwards, but more of a lateral move, and one that frees the Braves of any obligation to Kotchman beyond this year. Kotchman is under team control for a couple more years, LaRoche is a free agent. LaRoche is also one of Chipper Jones' best buds -- they own land together -- and it wouldn't surprise me if he was influential in this trade in some form or fashion. LaRoche does represent an increase in power production over Kotchman, something that may have intrigued the Braves. He is also often referred to as a "second half" player as evedenced by his .773 first half OPS, versus his ...