The Atlanta Braves have agreed to a trade with Chicago Cubs for rights to pitcher Ryan Dempster.
Previous reports suggested that the Cubs were shopping Dempster around to various teams and had the Braves and the Dodgers as frontrunners for possible deals to be made.
Details of the trade are yet to be available but there are indications that the Braves will be sending highly-regarded pitching prospect Randall Delgado to the Cubs.
Dempster, 35, in his final year of his contract with the Cubs and is considered one of the top starting pitchers available on the trade market. He leads the majors with a 2.11 ERA in 15 starts this year and a 3.63 ERA in the 147 starts he has made since the start of the 2008 season. He also recently reeled off a streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings.
The 15-year veteran would help stabilize and improve a Braves rotation that has struggled to replace Brandon Beachy, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury last month.
Dempster has a 10-5 trade protection rights, meaning he must approve any trade before it can be executed.
Dempster will be a free agent at the conclusion of this season and will owed a total of $5 million. It is still not known whether the Braves will be responsible for the entire portion of this figure.
The Braves were also interested in Zack Greinke but will more than likely pursue him through the free agency market this winter.
Atlanta trails the first-place Washington Nationals by 3.5 games in the NL East and remains in contention for a wild-card spot despite a starting rotation that includes Delgado and Mike Minor.
