"The Braves organization has been committed to adding young, impact talent and the signings of Derian Cruz and Cristian Pache bring us two exciting players with high upside," Braves assistant general manager John Coppolella said in a news release. "[Special assistant to the GM] Gordon Blakeley and his entire staff -- Marc Russo, Mike Silvestri, Lebi Ochoa, Alex Cotto, and others should all be commended for their hard work."
The Braves made three trades that involved four Minor Leaguers (Cody Martin, Caleb Dirks, Jordan Paroubeck and Garrett Fulencheck) to add a little more than $1.1 million to their bonus pool in order to prevent going over their pool allotment and facing taxes and signing penalties.