Braves trade for Vazquez

Long rumored to be in the Jake Peavy trade talks, the Atlanta Braves instead shifted their focus yesterday to acquiring right-handed starting pitcher Javier Vazquez from the Chicago White Sox. In acquiring Vazquez, who will be pitching for his fifth major league team in Atlanta, the Braves sent four prospects to the ChiSox, including catcher Tyler Flowers, infielder Brent Lillibridge, third baseman Jon Gilmore, and left-handed pitcher Santos Rodriguez, with lefty reliever Boone Logan accompanying Vazquez to Atlanta.
While Lillibridge was the only player sent to Chicago that has played at the major league level (23 games at shortstop, a game at third base in '08), it was the offensive capabilities of Flowers in the Arizona Fall League (an off season league where teams send their top prospects, coaches, and team personnel) that had scouts salivating, as his stats (75 AB, 12 HR, 23 RBI, .387 AVG/.460 OBP/.973 SLG) propelled him to fifteenth in Baseball America’s “Arizona Fall League Top 20 Prospects”.
Lillibridge, while only seeing 80 at bats at the MLB level in 2008 (a HR, 8 RBI, .200/.238/.338), can play multiple infield positions and might start the season as the White Sox’ utility infielder.
Gilmore, the 33rd overall selection in the 2007 amateur draft, had some success in two years of rookie ball, averaging 210 AB and .311/.331/.740, but struggled in only 102 AB at the Single A level, posting a .186/.202/.196, and is years away from the major leagues (if at all).
Rodriguez, repeating the Gulf Coast League for the second time in 2008, allowed 9 earned runs in 29 innings with a 1.00 WHIP (walks+hits/innings pitched) in '08, and, according to scouts, has an electric arm with the potential to be an above average ML pitcher one day.
The Braves will add lefty Boone Logan to their bullpen, where the 6’5”, former 20th round pick has averaged 52 innings in 68 games over the last three seasons, surrendering 7 HR with a 5.87 ERA, a 1.69 WHIP, and a 1.87 strikeout-to-walk ratio in an average season, since making his major league debut in early 2006.
The centerpiece of the deal, however, is the 6’2”, right handed Javier Vazquez, who, in his 11 seasons in the majors, has pitched in complete obscurity (six seasons with the Montreal Expos) and on baseball’s biggest stage (he pitched in 2004 for the New York Yankees, and has 15 2/3 postseason innings under his belt split between the Yankees and White Sox), while averaging 218 innings and a 4.32 ERA per season throughout his career.
Well versed in the discrepancy between American and National Leagues, Vazquez has changed leagues four times since making his ML debut with the Expos. During his seven seasons spent in the National League (with the Expos from 1998-2003, and one season with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005), he averaged 206 IP, 4.30 ERA, and a 1.28 WHIP. In his four seasons in the American League, he averaged 206 IP, 4.54 ERA, and a 1.26 WHIP, which is very consistent with his NL numbers despite pitching to the designated hitter.
Consistency may very well be Vazquez’ middle name, as he’s been consistently one of the better starting pitchers, stats-wise, throughout his career. Despite one All-Star selection in 2004 with the Yankees, where he was voted in as a reserve in one of the worst statistical seasons of his career (his 198 IP is third lowest and 4.91 ERA in '04 is the third highest single season total of his career, topped only by his first two seasons in the majors), Vazquez has finished ranked in the top ten of his league in innings pitched six times, the top five in strikeouts five times, the top five in WHIP three times, the top five in games started three times, and finished in the top five in strikeouts per nine innings four times in his career.
But as the Atlanta Journal-Constitutions’s Dave O’Brien writes, Vazquez is not an ace. Maybe once upon a time, when he was the best pitcher on a bunch of really bad Expos teams, he was considered as such, but no longer. While he was with the White Sox last season, fighting for the American League Central Division title in September, Vazquez made five starts in the month, allowing 22 earned runs in 31 2/3 innings and lost three decisions, causing his manger, Ozzie Guillen, to call him soft publicly and to say that he didn’t trust Vazquez in a big game.
Thanks to the contributions of younger pitchers Gavin Floyd and John Danks (among others), the White Sox closed out the regular season tied with the Minnesota Twins for first place in the Central, and defeated the Twins in a one-game Central Division tiebreaker on the last day of the regular season, going on to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Divisional Series. Vazquez took the mound for the first game, but surrendered two home runs over 4 1/3 innings, striking out six but allowing six earned runs to take the loss, jettisoning himself further into manager Guillen’s dog house.
With the White Sox seemingly determined to cut payroll this off season, general manager Kenny Williams deemed Vasquez’ $23 million salary over the next two seasons to be expendable, and shipped him to Atlanta, which had been involved in trading for the San Diego Padres’ ace Jake Peavy thus far in the off season. Refusing to surrender top prospects such as RHP Tommy Hanson or Flowers to San Diego, the Braves instead jumped into the Vazquez trade negotiations and were willing to trade Flowers to Chicago. The trade status of Peavy is now up in the air, as the two teams who were interested in acquiring the 2007 NL Cy Young award winner, Atlanta and the Chicago Cubs, have addressed their pitching needs early in the off season, in trading for Javier Vazquez and resigning RHP Ryan Dempster, respectively.
The Braves needed a veteran pitcher to add to their 2009 rotation desperately, as their only starters penciled into the rotation before Vazquez’ arrival were 2008 breakout right-hander Jair Jurrjens (13-10, 3.68 ERA, 1.37 WHIP in 2008), RHP Charlie Morton (4-8, 6.15, 1.63), LHP Jo-Jo Reyes (3-11, 5.81, 1.65), and RHP Jorge Campillo (8-7, 3.91, 1.24), all of whom have pitched in less than 50 career games.
With Tim Hudson slated to miss most of 2009 due to injury, and Tom Glavine and John Smoltz faced with retirement or rehabbing injuries in the off season, the Braves rotation was paper-thin before the trade, and Vazquez’ arrival helps. He’ll be his usual, consistent self in ‘09, one would think, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see Vazquez produce a fifth straight 200+ inning, 180+ strikeout season for the Braves. The AL-to-NL conversion should help his numbers, as he will be able to pitch again to pitchers in the NL instead of the DH in the AL. Instead of facing the top ten ranked offenses of the Twins, Tigers, and Indians, however, Vazquez will have to contend with two other top ten ranked offenses in the Mets and Phillies, as well as the up-and-coming, power-hitting Marlins.
All in all, I think the Braves managed to get themselves an above average starting pitcher for relatively cheap money ($11.5 per season over the next two) who should thrive in the NL and do what no Braves pitcher did in 2008: amass 200 innings. The problem I do have is trading one of their more valuable trade chips in Tyler Flowers without getting an ace of the rotation pitcher in return. GM Frank Wren did trade Flowers at maybe his absolute highest trade value, after coming off a scorching AFL where he led the league with 12 HR in only 75 AB, and many question Flowers’ abilities as a defensive catcher and long term prospects to stay at the position. It also seems like the Braves have a knack for drafting and developing power hitting catchers (see: McCann, Brian; Saltalamacchia, Jarrod) and Flowers would not have played regularly behind McCann, so he would have been traded eventually.
And as long as RHP phenom Tommy Hanson is not available in trade discussions and has the opportunity to fight for a spot in the 2009 starting rotation, that bodes well moving forward for a franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs for a third straight season over the past 18 years. Whether he will be following a rotation that is led by Javier Vazquez, Jake Peavy, or AJ Burnett/Derek Lowe remains to be seen, but the Braves are at least on the cusp of contention once again.