CHICAGO -- After completing the Brandon Phillips trade that materialized quickly on Thursday, the Braves called an audible and opted to make more additions than planned to their roster, which expanded with September's arrival.
Before Friday afternoon's game against the Cubs, the Braves enhanced their roster by adding two position players -- Rio Ruiz and Tony Sanchez -- and four pitchers -- left-handers Max Fried, Ian Krol and Rex Brothers, and right-hander Luke Jackson.
Ruiz, Fried and Brothers were recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett. Krol and Jackson were activated from the disabled list. Sanchez was acquired from the Angels in exchange for Phillips on Thursday night and immediately added to the 40-man roster to serve as a third catcher while Tyler Flowers deals with a bruised left hand.
The Braves also placed right-handed reliever Jason Motte on the DL with a strained right oblique. The club now has 39 players on its 40-man roster. The open spot will likely be filled next week by highly regarded left-handed pitching prospect Luiz Gohara, who's ranked No. 8 in the Braves' system.
Fried's return from Gwinnett positions him to make his first Major League start in Sunday afternoon's series finale at Wrigley Field. The left-hander made his first four career appearances as he spent August's first three weeks in Atlanta's bullpen. He has since made two starts for Gwinnett, but was limited to two innings on Wednesday, while R.A. Dickey and Julio Teheran were starting opposite ends of a doubleheader in Philadelphia.
Instead of bringing Dickey or Teheran back on short rest, the Braves will hand the ball to Fried, who ranks as the Braves' No. 10 prospect per MLBPipeline.
"With the time he had here previously, it won't be a culture shock or anything like that," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "It's got to be exciting for anybody to come to Wrigley Field and get their first start."
Though a CT scan has shown Flowers' left hand is not fractured, the Braves are concerned that he could be sidelined for at least two weeks. So in the meantime they will carry Sanchez, who has played just 51 big league games since being selected by the Pirates with the fourth overall selection in the 2009 Draft. The 29-year-old catcher hit .272 with a .729 OPS for Triple-A Salt Lake this year.
"He's just that extra guy you'd like to have," Snitker said. "Tyler is bruised up pretty good. So it will probably be every bit of 10 days and maybe more before we get him back. So I think it's a good get for us. I've seen him when he was with the Pirates and I saw him at Triple-A. He's having a pretty good year."
Ruiz was recalled a few days earlier than expected to account for the void created by Phillips' exit. He will serve as Atlanta's primary third baseman until Johan Camargo returns from the DL on Monday.