Bob Wickman makes sense for the Atlanta Braves. He's a proven steady closer who somehow gets results. He's basically a two pitch pitcher with a fastball as his main weapon and a plus slider as his out pitch. In looking at the chart below, his fastball this year seems way too hittable, but if he mixes it in properly with that slider then he can be effective.
His four losses this year can be attributed to the same thing that caused many of the Braves losses - a horrific June. After not giving up a run in May, Wickman surrendered 11 runs (9 earned) in just 9 innings in June, blowing half of his six save opportunities. But just like the Braves, July has been a different month. He has converted all four save opportunities he has had. So if you just glanced at his stats and his 4.18 ERA you might not be too impressed, but you must keep in mind that most all of that damage came in one month.
Bob Wickman is also a one inning pitcher. This year he has appeared in 29 games and thrown 28 innings, a trend which dates back to 1999 with every year since having been a one to one, outing to inning ratio.
As for the guy we gave up, Max Ramirez, I'm really glad I don't have to worry anymore about trying to spell his full first name. Here is what I said about him in my first half review of prospects:
Ramirez is continuing his solid work at each level. He has added a bit more power at the expense of his average, but he should be right on track. His defense has also been stellar with only two errors on the year.
Here is what John Sickels said about him in his mid-year review:
The long and short of it is, we have a ton of catching prospects and McCann in the majors, which makes this guy easily expendable. He's also two or three years away from playing in the Major Leagues.
I give this trade an A- for the Braves. It instantly and dramatically improves the worst part of our ballclub - the bullpen. It also allows Ken Ray to move to an eighth inning setup role. My guess is that this is not the end of the trading that Schu will pull off today. I'm thinking Sosa also gets moved, perhaps to Colorado for Ray King, which would be a wash in salary. This was also an economical trade. We will probably have to pay just over $2 million of the remainder of Wickman's salary, which most likely leaves us with just under $4 million left to spend.