Report: Braves have discussed Luis Avilan with numerous teams

The Atlanta Braves fortified their bullpen earlier this week by signing veteran right-hander Jason Grilli to a two-year deal, but president of baseball operations John Hart may be looking to unload a reliever in the coming weeks.

The Braves need to create a spot on their 40-man roster to accommodate newly signed catcher A.J. Pierzynski, and the club recently approached other teams to gauge interest in left-hander Luis Avilan, according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman.

Avilan, who signed as an amateur free agent in 2005, enjoyed an auspicious start to his MLB career, emerging as one of the game's top left-handed relievers after enjoying considerable success with the Braves from 2012 to 2013. During that span, the Venezuela native fashioned an impressive 1.69 ERA with a 0.98 WHIP over 106 contests while allowing just two home runs in 101 innings.

Regression befell Avilan in 2014, however, as he stumbled to a career-worst 4.57 ERA while battling unprecedented control issues, yielding 21 walks in 41 1/3 innings. Avilan also proved far less effective at neutralizing left-handed hitters, who compiled a .264/.350/.379 line against the 25-year old last season.

The Braves' bullpen remains formidable independent of Avilan - Grilli joins a late-inning contingent that already features Craig Kimbrel and David Carpenter - and the left-hander could be traded to improve a lineup that scored fewer runs than all but one National League team last season.