trade winds

Paul Maholm should really help the Atlanta Braves. The former Mississippi State ace might not be considered a big league star, but he is a solid No. 3 or 4 type pitcher. And he gives the Braves’ rotation a second left-hander (with Mike Minor), which is big. He was 9-6 with a 3.74 ERA for the Chicago Cubs and his career mark of 62-79 would be much better if hadn’t spent all that time with Pittsburgh. The Braves also added a capable outfielder in Reed Johnson in the deal for former Mississippi Braves pitchers Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman. Vizcaino might be a star someday, but the Braves have so much pitching depth, they could afford to part with him. Maholm, from Greenwood, joins a short list of Mississippi natives to play for Atlanta, including Bob Didier, Rod Gilbreath, Howard Battle, John Thomson and Jay Powell. … Texas may have been compelled to make the Ryan Dempster trade with the Cubs after watching Weir native Roy Oswalt’s performance against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. Bugs Bunny ball was not working for Oswalt, who gave up 11 hits and eight runs in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA ballooned to 6.49 in six starts. And he’s got that back problem. … Former M-Braves center fielder Gorkys Hernandez moved from Pittsburgh to Miami, where he might actually get to play. He can run and has an outstanding glove. P.S. Richton’s JaCoby Jones, the former Mr. Baseball now at LSU, won the Cape Cod League home run derby on Saturday night.