Late Saturday night, the Arizona Diamondbacks traded right-handed pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Touki Toussaint to the Atlanta Braves for infielder Phil Gosselin. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports was the first to report the trade between the two parties.
On April 4, the Diamondbacks transferred Arroyo to the 60-day disabled list and he was ruled out until August because of Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery in July.
The 38-year-old was becoming a nuisance to hold on to because he will make $9.5 million this season and has a $4.5 million buyout for 2016.
Atlanta agreed to eat the rest of his contract to land Toussaint, who is a top-100 prospect. However, Arroyo could become important down the stretch if he recovers from the Tommy John surgery successfully.
Toussaint was the Diamondbacks first round pick (16th overall) in 2014. Toussaint turned 19 the day he was traded (6/20/15). The right-handed pitcher is one of the youngest in the Midwest League.
Toussaint has a 3.69 ERA in seven starts for Class A Kane County. The Diamondbacks really stressed him to work on his fastball and change-up command. However, he has not thrown a curveball all season. Toussaint is listed as the Diamondbacks' number five prospect, according to Baseball America.
Gosselin, who is 26, is currently recovering from thumb surgery and is expected back after the All-Star game. Gosselin has a .282 average with eight doubles, one home run and a .321 on-base percentage over 185 plate appearences with the Braves. Those plate appearences came during three seasons with the Braves. He is batting .325 with four doubles this season.
Braves assitant general manager John Coppolella said this about the trade, "With all the trades we've tried to walk two roads. One is, help our team this year, which we feel we have done. We felt like with Arroyo, when he ends up healthy he can help us win. Two, we are trying to build for the future and we think Toussaint is a huge, huge piece for the future."