The San Francisco Giants pulled the trigger on a long rumored deal by sending inconsistent left-handed reliever Jack Taschner to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for catcher Ronny Paulino. 

Paulino, who was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Phillies in December 2008, is expected to compete with Steve Holm to be the Giants backup catcher. 

Taschner had spent all ten seasons of his professional career with the Giants organization. 

This move will free up some of the logjam in the bullpen as Taschner, who signed a new contract in the offseason, was expected to be a lock as a left handed reliever.  Basically, this means that the Jeremy Affeldt signing equals a straight replacement of Taschner in the bullpen.