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The Braves have designated Anthony Varvaro for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Alberto Callaspo, who was signed last week.
Varvaro, 30, joined the Braves in 2011 and has pitched rather well the last two seasons, posting a 2.74 ERA and 3.36 FIP over 128 innings. An argument could be made that he was the club's third-best reliever in 2014, and considering he's got three relatively cheap years of arbitration left, the move was pretty surprising.
Varvaro could be traded sometime soon, according to Mark Bowman. Packaging him with Justin Upton (or Evan Gattis) seems pretty likely:
The #Braves make it official. Varvaro has been DFA'd to make room for Callaspo. Varvaro might soon be traded.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) December 15, 2014
I was always a fan of Varvaro, and he put together his best season yet in 2014. Best of luck to him wherever he winds up. May he land on a team that uses its closer in Game 4s of the NLDS with the season on the line.