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Juan Uribe confirms trade to Braves

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES -- Third baseman Juan Uribe will be traded by the Dodgers to the Braves in a six-player trade that will become official on Wednesday morning, he confirmed to reporters after Tuesday night's win over Atlanta.

The trade is still pending commissioner approval, which is expected to happen on Wednesday morning, but the parties are known per multiple reports from Mark Bowman of MLB.com and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. The Dodgers will send Uribe and injured pitcher Chris Withrow to the Braves in exchange for Callaspo and pitchers Eric Stults, Juan Jaime and Ian Thomas.

A few reporters caught Uribe before he entered the elevator at Dodger Stadium, and Uribe confirmed he had been traded. Asked what he would miss most about the Dodgers, Uribe began to tear up and gestured to the fans who were yelling for him.

Adrian Gonzalez said he got to say goodbye to Uribe.

"I told him I'm not going to be able to charge room service to his room anymore," Gonzalez joked. "He's been great. Everybody here loves him. He'll definitely be missed in the clubhouse, that's for sure."

The return looks a bit underwhelming.

Callaspo we know about. The 32-year-old is not really hitting this year, just .206/.293/.252, and is as redundant on the Dodgers' roster as Uribe became, though Callaspo doesn't offer anywhere near Uribe's prowess. It is unknown how long he remains on the roster.

Stults is 35 and got bumped from the Braves' starting rotation last week after putting up a 6.34 ERA and 5.62 FIP in eight starts. He was last a Dodger in 2009, spending the latter part of his fourth season with the Dodgers in Joe Torre's doghouse after walking seven in a 4⅓-inning start at Coors Field.

Stults pitched in Tuesday's game, recording the final 11 outs in mop-up duty after the Braves fell behind 8-0. Stults allowed only one single, and retired 10 of his 11 batters faced.

He is making $2 million this season, with roughly $1,431,694 remaining.

Thomas is a 28-year-old left-hander the Braves signed out of independent ball in 2012. He has a 3.94 ERA in 21 relief appearances with the Braves in 2014-2015, with 18 strikeouts and 11 walks in 16 innings.

In nine relief appearances this season between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett Thomas pitched 15⅔ scoreless innings, with 20 strikeouts and one walk. In his three stops in 2015 - Double-A, Triple-A and the majors - Thomas has held left-handed batters to just 1-for-27 with one walk and nine strikeouts.

Jaime, 27, is the hardest thrower of the group, averaging 97.14 mph on his four-seam fastball in 2014, per Brooks Baseball, and 95.66 mph this season in limited duty. But with that power comes wildness; Jaime has walked 13 of 70 batters faced (18.6% walk rate) in his 18 major league relief appearances in 2014-2015, but also had 19 strikeouts (27.1%).

Jaime is the one player in the trade not on the 40-man roster. He was designated for assignment on April 13, then cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A. In six games between Gwinnett and Mississipi, Jaime has a 6.75 ERA and nine walks to go with seven strikeouts.

Callaspo and Stults are out of options. Thomas is in his second option year and entered 2015 with 60 days of major league service time. Jaime, again not on the 40-man, entered the year with 56 days of service time and - just in case he eventually joins the major league club - does have one option year remaining, having used options in 2013 and 2014.

The difference in the remaining salaries of Uribe and [Callaspo + Stults] is roughly $1.1 million. It is unknown if there is any cash changing hands in the deal.

Withrow, 26, is recovering from Tommy John surgery and was expected back after the All-Star break, perhaps as late as September. It seems the trade essentially boils down to the Dodgers betting on Jaime and Thomas to contribute something over Withrow.

When the trade is finalized on Wednesday morning, the Dodgers will need to clear two spots on the 40-man roster, sending out Uribe (Withrow is on the 60-day disabled list, not technically holding a spot right now), and receiving Callaspo, Stults and Thomas.