Well! Only a few hours after killing Frank Wren for standing pat this long, looks like he's making me eat my words. The Braves have sent four prospects to the Chicago White Sox for starting pitcher Javier Vazquez, including shortstop Brent Lillibridge and highly touted catching prospect Tyler Flowers. Vazquez has spent 11 seasons in the majors, playing for the Expos, Yankees, Diamondbacks and White Sox. A power pitcher (and a fairly solid #2), Vazquez put up great numbers in 2007 (15-8, 3.74ERA, 213Ks) before following it up with a mediocre, inconsistent 2008 season. Vazquez's arguably best season was 2003 with the Expos, with 13 wins, a 3.24ERA, 4CG and 241Ks.My brother will tell you I'm a fan of Javy's, especially in fantasy leagues. While he's not the bonified ace the Braves are looking for (and still could land in Peavy, Burnett or Lowe), he's a great piece for the rotation. He's an innings eater (averages 218 innings per year) who strikes out hitters, and pitching in a hitter's park in Atlanta is sure to help reduce his number of home runs allowed. Vazquez has over 2,000 career strikeouts and is under contract through 2010, making over $11 million.
Left-handed reliever Boone Logan will also join the Braves in the trade. Should he make the team, Logan could potentially fill the void left by free-agent Will Ohman, to whom the Braves did send a respectable offer this off-season. Logan has been a marginal reliever during his time in the majors, with an ERA above five.
Luckily for fans like me, none of the prospects headed to Chicago were involved in the talks with San Diego for Jake Peavy. However one of the hottest prospects in the organization is now off the table. Slugging catcher Tyler Flowers, a star in this year's recently completed Arizona Fall League, is the top name in the deal. Along with Flowers, shortstop Brent Lillibridge, third-baseman Jon Gilmore and pitcher Santos Rodriguez will be the prospects sent packing. With All-Star Brian McCann behind the plate for years to come, it makes sense to move Flowers while he's hot. After pounding the ball in the AFL, its likely several teams were asking about him. I like the deal, and think its a good start, but only if Wren and the Braves see Vazquez as a #2 (or #3) starter.
Winter meetings are next week, when the real wheeling and dealing begins. Expect Peavy to be traded, Sabathia to get signed, and big big contracts to be offered. More exciting hot stove news to come!
5 comments. Leave Your Own!:
Yozer, thought I would start to comment over here (b.t.w it's adam of d'wood fame).
First, the javy trade is just what the braves needed to do convince some of the other top free agents that we mean business and are ready to win *this* year. The loss of flowers is just one more of many necessary evils when it comes to grooming prospect for the rest of the league in exchanges for big arms and bats. It's what the braves have been doing for years, and every once in awhile, they stay in house and turn into a McCann.
Javy will sure up the 3 hole in the rotation a spot that desperatly needed attention with hapton just signing with the stros. I think Javy will benefit from not having to be _the_ ace or _the_ second ace on a staff. He won't have to be the "big game pitcher" that ozzie says he ain't. Now, if the braves could some how entice burnett with a sweet deal, we could find ourself with a serious 4 man deep rotation with or without this legendary peavy. That is not to say peavy is not coming. He may still come, but wren is on the right track - fill holes now, worry later.
Which brings me to my final note, when are we going to get that big bat the braves so desperately need to hit behind chipper? Our outfield production last season really left something to be desired, and I recently saw that the braves are passing on former red's slugger dunn. The free agent hitting market is pretty week, at least for what the braves can afford (we are not landing manny). Furcal could be a great pickup, even better if escobar heads to san diego. What we need is a bat that can help lessen the load on chip. I like the pitching talk, but the next big move needs to be a position player. Of course, if burnett or peavy happen to be next, I'm not complaining.
adam
P.S. Smoltz threw off the mound without pain last week and Glavine is beginning to throw as well. Contractually, smoltz is a free agent, but if he returns he'll likely be back in the penn closing. Glavine may very well be the #4/5 starter in the rotation, a spot i like him in. We will just have to wait and see.
i think all in all we're just creating a bridge to 2010. schafer, heyward, freeman, these big sluggers we have in the minors still need some seasoning (though schafer could start 09 in center), so if we do land a power hitter this offseason, it has to be someone we can let go in two years. As far as free agents go.. can we offer Raul Ibanez a two year deal with an option for the third? Is he old enough to warrant such a short-term offer? Or do we trade for someone who's got a couple years left on their current deal.. of course that means losing more prospects (and since Im still holding out hope we'll land Peavy, I'd like to see us not trade anymore).
I'm not sure what we'll do, but I'm cool with us passing on Dunn (and hopefully passing on Burrell). A guy that young and overblown (Dunn's 40 homers are cool, but his 180+ Ks... not fun to watch) is gonna demand at least 5 years and a ton of money, and we just dont need that right now. There's no way we can conted with the Phillies or Mets lineup, but we can out-pitch them. And if we can out-pitch them, then we can beat them. Even if Chipper's the only hitter we got.
That's exactly what I am talking about, there are no really good free agent position players that fit our needs. Dunn was by far the best, we could've handled the strikeouts, we did for Andruw, if he hits 3 bombs a week, and he does. Don't forget the RBI's that Dunn produces too.
Now, I am not saying that he should be the centrepiece of the team going forward, but a big bat to hit 4th behind chipper is what we really need. The one downside to dunn is that he is left handed. It would be best to look for a righty this way they would need to use two pitchers between chip and the 4 hitter. They would need a lefty pitcher to put chipper on his weak side, and then a righty pitcher to deal with the 4 hitter and switch again for McCann hitting 5th. That would be the best case scenario. I think Pat the bat could be a good addition, righty power hitter, but he also strikes out a lot and has never been much of a hitter in the 4 hole. Ibanez's best years may be behind him, but a 2 year deal to try it out wouldn't be a bad option.
Either way the lack of hitting is starting to scare me. We have had good teams in the past based solely around pitching, but in the end we always had at least 3 big bats. Right now all I see is Jones, Mccann, and nobody. Jones is injury prone and McCann tends to slump as the season goes on (I hear he trimmed down and is in better shape so that may not happen), but without one more to hit 4 or 5 I think we are looking at lot more 1 run losses. We got to get over that bump, and loosing 3-2 and 1-2 all season long is not a pitching thing, but a hitting.
So I ask,
Wren, where are our big hitters? Where's the "big cat" of this generation?
adam
gotta agree with you there, we definitely need a big time righty in that fourth spot. Burrell and Manny are really the only free agents to look at there, but I don't expect us to go after either. Its probable that a trade brings in the power outfielder. And i kinda wish we had made more of a play to sign Mike Cameron last offseason (power, speed, gold glove, righty, short contract), so itll be interesting to see what happens. Honestly I'm a little surprised that Jermaine Dye didn't come along with Javy Vazquez. I know Dye is sort of on the trading block, and I also know he's expensive, but he can't have too many years left in his contract. I dont know, maybe with his bad knees he's better suited as a RF/DH. Oh well, we could probably trade a six pack of beer for Andruw at this point, and he's only got a year left on his deal. Hahahaha
I don't know about the six pack of beer trade. Beer gets you drunk whenever you want, and Andruw just kinda doesn't. In face he doesn't do much other then run down balls. I'll keep the beer for now.
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