The Yankees and Braves have just put the finishing touches on a trade that will send starting pitcher Javier Vazquez to the Bronx in exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera and pitching prospects Arodys Vizcaino and Mike Dunn.
Wow… For a team that just won the World Series, the Yankees sure do operate with a sense of urgency that I could only dream the Mets would have.
In my opinion, this trade opens up the possibility that both teams could enter the Jason Bay sweepstakes. The Yankees of course, now need an outfielder, and the Braves cleared a big salary that certainly gets them into the game. Bay’s agent Joe Urbon will be working the phones all day trying to get both teams to keep Bay out of Flushing. Mark my words, this will force Omar into reacting with more years and more cash!
The Yankees will take on all of the $11.5 million left on Vazquez’s contract for 2010, after which he becomes a free agent. And as a matter of fact, the Yankees are even kicking in a half million dollars to give the Braves some extra holiday spending money. Vasquez had a solid season in 2009, going 15–10 with a 2.87 ERA in 32 starts, while striking out 238 batters in 219 innings pitched. A very Johan-esque season to say the least.
Incidentally, Arodys Vizcaino, who the Yankees are sending to the Braves, has been compared to the Mets’ Jenrry Mejia, and Joel Sherman writes of him;
The deal sends Vazquez and lefty reliever Boone Logan to the Yankees in exchange for Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino, a 19-year-old righty who emerged so strongly at short-season Staten Island that he was recently named the third best prospect in the Yankees’ organization by Baseball America.
Here we go, I predict a volley of tweets and comments that will say both the Yankees and Braves got burned, or that Vasquez is trash just like Jason Marquis, Randy Wolf, Rich Harden, etc. Jeez… Mets apologists are in full force this off season.
Predictions of 3 most repeated arguments from Mets apologists regarding this trade…
1. Javier Vasquez can’t pitch in New York.
2. The Braves got burnt, even though they got two prospects that are similar if not better than anything the Mets have in their farm system.
3. So what if one of them gets Bay now, we didn’t need Bay anyway, F-Mart is almost ready.
All kidding aside though, the sad news is that yet another NL East team is making moves while we sit on our hands and swoon over Henry Blanco and Chris Coste.
