Braves poised to swap Vazquez for Melky

[Hawksquawk]

New York will send outfielder Melky Cabrera, lefty Mike Dunn and a Minor Leaguer to the Braves in exchange for Javier Vazquez and left-hander Boone Logan, according to the New York Daily News.

View the full article

[WraithSentinel]

Clear money and got a decent return. More than we would have gotten for Lowe. Of course Javy is the better pitcher. I expect Lowe to bounce back with a better year. Plus we can now add a power bat.

[coachx]

New York will send outfielder Melky Cabrera, lefty Mike Dunn and a Minor Leaguer to the Braves in exchange for Javier Vazquez and left-hander Boone Logan, according to the New York Daily News.

View the full article

That other "minor leaguer" turns out to be much more then a throw in for this trade. Its Arodys Vizcaino, a 19 year old pitcher has been rated as the Yankees 3rd best minor league prospect at only 18 years of age.

So he is supposed to be a stud starting pitcher in the waiting. Though that wait could be 2 or even 3 more years.

We were all hoping for that power bat but Melky Cabrera gives us a solid another solid fielder in the OF, who is only 24, with better then average speed. What I like about Melky is that he is a switch hitter, who can still improve as a hitter since he is only 24. Plus both Cabrera and McClouth can play CF which is a nice luxury to have in case of injury.

This should save the Braves a ton of money so we can target a FA bat as well. I'm assuing Cabrera makes significanlty less then Vazquez ($11.5 mill) and Logan.

http://www.sbnation.com/2009/12/22/1212508/yankees-trade-javier-vazquez-Arodys-Vizcaino-braves-analysis

Trade Analysis: Braves Dump Salary, Pick Up Prospects; Yanks Improve Rotation, BullpenDec22

10:49a

by Chris Mottram

Our Braves blog, Talking Chop, is all over Tuesday’s trade with the Yankees, which sends Javier Vazquez to NY for Melky Cabrera and prospects. From Atlanta’s perspective, the deal is mostly about dumping salary:

Melky Cabrera will earn under $3 million in arbitration, and Mike Dunn replacing Boone Logan should save the Braves another million in arbitration. Subtract Vazquez’ $11.5 million salary and the Braves save around $9.5 million on this deal. That’s good money to go out and get a decent bat. This trade may also look a lot better depending who the unnamed prospect turns out to be. With this kind of return I would think it would have to be someone pretty good.

It turns out that it may just be someone “pretty good.” According to reports, the third player the Braves get back in the deal is pitcher Arodys Vizcaino, who Baseball Prospectus rates as the No. 2 overall prospect in the Yankees system.

On the other side of the deal, our Yankees blog, Pinstripe Alley, sees this as not only a deal to improve the rotation — which it does, dramatically — but also the bullpen. This move now allows Joba Chamberlain to move back to the pen full-time, thus strengthening their relief pitching as well as their starters.

Edited December 22, 2009 by coachx

[APE]

Yankees will want Vaz again? lol those Retards

Edited December 22, 2009 by Bruin

[APE]

Good job Derek, basically crying to stay in Atlanta..did you not see yourself pitch last year?

[macdaddy]

Dang. I see the point. You save money and improve team speed and defense in the outfield. Both of which are huge deals in a pitcher friendly park. But damn Javier was great last year and an inning eater at that. I thought great starting pitching would bring back more but this 19 year old may be the key. Javier gets to go the Yanks so i'm sure he's not upset but at the same time if he stayed in the National league he might could win a Cy Young.

[APE]

You save money and improve defense in the outfield.

Improve defense with Melky?

[coachx]

Improve defense with Melky?

He has much more range then Matt Diaz and the 38 year old model of Garrett Anderson.

Melky may be below average as a CF but as a RF or LF he would be categorized as a "good" fielder.

Looks like Marlon Byrd (who went to HS in Marietta) is now in our price range. He is now 32 and hit 20 HRs last year in that larger park the Rangers play in (407' to centerfield and a few feet deeper down the foul lines too).

A better fit as a "stop gap" player, as we wait on Heyward, might be Jermaine Dye. At 36 he hit 27 homers last year though his batting average dipped to .250. At his age its a risk but for a 1 year contract it could be worth it. GA.'s warm weather and mild falls might be good for aging players like him. Garrett Anderson hit well here last year at 38.

Edited December 22, 2009 by coachx

[coachx]

Yankees will want Vaz again? lol those Retards

He gets a lot of fly balls and fly ball outs in most stadiums BUT those same flyball outs turn into home runs at that tiny park and wind tunnle, off the river, the Yankees play in. That is why I thought a ground ball pitcher, like D. Lowe, may actually be a better fit in a park such as New Yankee Stadium.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://majorleaguejerk.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/yankee_stadium_2004_dia.gif&imgrefurl=http://majorleaguejerk.com/2009/06/the-case-of-the-multitude-of-home-runs/&usg=__xoo-aDi4U-iMFc8Ebr669rOboIQ=&h=310&w=286&sz=4&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=ma8xcs34Tv8q2M:&tbnh=117&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnew%2Byankee%2Bstadium%2Bdimensions%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1

314' and 318' down the foul lines. That is quite a contrast from the 330' and 334' (foul line dimensions) that Vazquez pitched in last year. His HR totals will likely go up by about 30% due to these dimensions. That coupled with the AL's pinch hitters will make his ERA be around 4.50 and should make his IP go down as well.

In other words, it will make the trade look better for the Braves.

Edited December 22, 2009 by coachx

[mattlanta]

Marlon Byrd is over rated.

And Arodys Vizcaino is at LEAST 3 years away. Maybe up to 5.

[dms269]

Marlon Byrd is over rated.

And Arodys Vizcaino is at LEAST 3 years away. Maybe up to 5.

But now the Braves have 3 great pitching prospects in the minors with Teheran, Vizcaino, and Delgado who are 18, 19, and 19 respectively.

[Vol4ever]

We traded a possible cy young award winner Javy for a fourth outfielder and a young pitcher that be in the majors in five years! Yep that was a great deal.

[AHF]

We traded a possible cy young award winner Javy for a fourth outfielder and a young pitcher that be in the majors in five years! Yep that was a great deal.

Another way to look at it is that we traded a pitcher with a career ERA of 4.19, an average ERA over 4.00 over the last six years, and an ERA near 5.00 in some of those recent seasons at the absolute peak of his value. Calling Vazquez a "possible cy young award winner" seems to overrate his track record and likelihood of future success, IMO.

Edited January 5, 2010 by AHF