The Braves continued to talk to at least five teams that have expressed some interest in trading for third baseman Juan Francisco, who was designated for assignment on Thursday.
If the Braves don’t trade him in seven or eight days, they’ll put him through waivers and could either release him or send him to Triple-A.
Mac nears milestone: Brian McCann entered Saturday three hits shy of 1,000. The Braves veteran wasn't in the lineup after catching the past three games. Since the beginning of 2006, his first full season, McCann led major league catchers in homers (157), extra-base hits (367), RBIs (595), two-out RBIs (249) and game-winning RBIs (74).
Youth served: The addition of 21-year-old pitcher Alex Wood to the roster this week made it 11 players under 25 years old on the Braves' 25-man roster, the most in the NL according to Elias.
Ramiro on roll: Utility man Ramiro Pena had two of the Braves' four hits Friday to make him 12-for-27 (.444) with a double, a triple, a home run, six RBIs and one strikeout in his past 12 games, including 9-for-19 in five starts.
During that period, he had five multi-hit games in seven games in which he had more than one at-bat. For the season, Pena was hitting .333 including .390 (23-for-59) with a .439 OBP against right-handers.
