The Diamondbacks opened a spot in their starting rotation for Archie Bradley by trading Trevor Cahill to Atlanta on Thursday.
The D-backs will receive minor league outfielder Josh Elander and will pay $6.5 million of Cahill's $12 million salary this season, according to reports.
Bradley, 22, had a strong spring, going 3-2 with a 1.61 ERA in six appearances, four starts, in his second appearance in a major league camp. Bradley threw six shutout innings against the Reds on Wednesday and manager Chip Hale after the game said Bradley had pitched well enough to be in rotation.
"He is completely different from last year, which is awesome because you can see the maturity starting to take effect," D-backs pitching coach Mike Harkey said this week. "Overall presence on the mound. just looking like he actually has an idea of what he wants to do. Being able to execute pitches."
Bradley gave up 20 hits and six walks in 22-1/3 innings while striking out 14. He had a 1.16 WHIP and a .241 batting average against.
Josh Collmenter, Rubby De La Rosa and Jeremy Hellickson will start the first three games of the season against San Francisco, with Bradley and Chase Anderson holding the final two spots.
Cahill, obtained from Oakland before the 2012 season, struggled to a 3-12 record and a 5.61 ERA last season, the worst of his six big-league seasons and the first time he did not win at least nine games. Cahill altered his delivery this spring, throwing from a higher arm slot, and had a 3.60 ERA in 10 spring innings. He also made several starts in minor league games. Jarrod Parker was the principal piece the D-backs sent to Oakland for Cahill.
The D-backs' payroll is projected to be about $93 million this season, and president/CEO Derrick Hall said the team would like to lower that, if not this spring then possibly at the July 31 trade deadline.
Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, Shelby Miller, Mike Minor and Wandy Rodriguez are penciled into Atlanta's rotation, though Minor is expected to miss the first month of the season because of shoulder inflammation. Eric Stults was the in-camp candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation, but Cahill likely fills it now.
Braves assistant general manager John Coppolella told the Associated Press the Braves had their eyes on Cahill all spring.
"We thought he was a young pitcher with good stuff," Coppolella told the AP. "We saw him four different times this spring and liked what we saw."
Cahill has suffered from shoulder stiffness but Coppolella said it was "just minor wear and tear."
"There are no red flags," Coppolella said. "He's going to give us a good shot to get us where we want to be."
The 24-year-old Elander is a .275 hitter in three seasons in the minors. He batted .219 with two homers last year at High-A Lynchburg.
The D-backs still have one spot in the bullpen. The remaining candidates are left-handers Andrew Chafin, Robbie Ray and Vidal Nuno and hard-throwing right-hander Enrique Burgos.
