In their continued pursuit of the Washington Nationals in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves added a quality arm to their rotation on Monday night in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. The Braves acquired left-handed starter Paul Maholm and outfielder Reed Johnson. It's still not clear what Atlanta is sending to Chicago in return, but Twitter speculated all night on where Johnson might be headed after word came down he was on the move. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports finally confirmed the deal, adding in the crucial update that Maholm was involved:

Source: Paul Maholm and Reed Johnson dealt to #Braves.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 31, 2012

Maholm has been one of the hottest pitchers in the game of late, posting a 1.00 ERA and 5-0 record in his last seven starts.

After a win over the Marlins on Monday, the Braves pulled to 3.5 games back of the idle Nationals. But adding Maholm to address an area of need was certainly the best news of the night for Washington's NL East rival.

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