Javier Vazquez Returns, Melky Cabrera to Braves
It’s old news around here, but Javier Vazquez is again a Yankee. Some Brian Cashman audio here. Cot’s way ahead of the curve. That’s $11.5M and next year his a walk year. So much for $15M savings, eh Cash?
Sorry, I just had to Wikipedia this:
Vázquez was a 5th round draft pick of the Montreal Expos in the 1994 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut for the Expos in April 3, 1998. He started 32 games as a rookie and pitched 172 innings. By 2000, Vázquez had become the ace of the Expos pitching staff and pitched 200 innings or more for four consecutive seasons.
On December 16, 2003, the New York Yankees acquired Vázquez from the Expos in exchange for Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and Randy Choate. He agreed to a four-year deal through the 2007 season.
Following a disappointing performance and loss to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series (whereupon entering the game in the second inning, gave up a grand slam to Johnny Damon on his first pitch), the Yankees sent Vazquez, Brad Halsey, and Dioner Navarro, to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Randy Johnson on January 11, 2005.
In 33 starts overall, he went 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA.
After pitching the 2005 season with Arizona, Vázquez formally requested a trade from the team, citing a desire to be closer to his family in Puerto Rico.
On December 20, 2005, Vazquez was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Orlando Hernández, Luis Vizcaino, and highly regarded prospect Chris Young. During the 2007 season, he compiled a 15-8 record with a 3.74 ERA (second lowest of his career).
From 1998 to the present, Vázquez has compiled a career 114-113 record with 1806 strikeouts and a 4.29 ERA in 321 games. He has struck out more batters than any other Puerto Rican pitcher in history. He was selected as an All-Star in 2004.
Vázquez agreed to play for the Puerto Rico Team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, joining fellow Puerto Rican contemporaries Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, Bernie Williams, amongst others representing the island in a team managed by St. Louis Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo.
In the 2007 season, Vázquez exceeded the two hundred strikeouts mark. This marked the third time he had done this in his career with the other two occasions being in 2001 and 2003.[2] This season was the seventh season in his career where he had thrown at least two hundred innings.[3] The only season that he was not able to work this quantity of innings was in 2004 when Joe Torre, then manager of the New York Yankees decided to jump some turns in the team’s rotation.[4] Vazquez culminated that year with 198 thrown innings.[5] When asked about Javier’s performance during the season in an interview, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén noted that Vazquez had been throwing well for some time but the team had not been able to capitalize on this until it was too late in the season, specifically referring to the team’s performance during the summer.[6][7]
On December 4, 2008, Vázquez was traded, along with Boone Logan, to the Atlanta Braves for minor league catcher Tyler Flowers, shortstop Brent Lillibridge, third baseman Jon Gilmore and pitcher Santos Rodriguez. [8] With the Braves in 2009, Vázquez had the most successful season of his career, going 15-10, with a 2.87 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 32 starts.He also led the majors in sacrifice hits, with 20.[9]
Javier came in 4th place in the voting for the 2009 NL Cy Young Award.
On December 22, 2009 the New York Yankees re-acquired Vázquez, this time from the Braves with LHP Boone Logan, in exchange for OF Melky Cabrera, LHP Mike Dunn and pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino.
Meanwhile, the Mets zero in on Dickey Knuckleballs.
Mets Alone in the Bay “Stakes”
Mets would do anything for a New Year’s Eve date.
John Harper can’t think of anyone but the Mets to even come close and are probably bidding against themselves with their 4-year offer. Now that Seattle is solidifying it’s fan-appeal rating (FAR) by taking a pass on the dangerously quiet, blatantly professional, and improperly local kid Bay, Harper seems to be right – it’s no one but the Mets and probably was never anyone but the Mets. The Sox went a little cheaper in the outfield. The Yanks have their new outfielder in Curtis Granderson. The Cardinals and Orioles are skirmishing over Matt Holliday. And a whole host of mid- to lower-tier outfielders have been traded or signed in a flurry.
So how would Jose Reyes (suddenly a slim, quick, and wiry leadoff hitter again), Luis Castillo, David Wright (no WBC!), Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, Jeff Francoeur (Santa Claus should be back in ‘10, no?), and company pan out? Regardless of what the payroll would look like, that lineup instantly becomes a winner in any stadium. Jose heads into his $11M 2011 team option, Castillo heads into “twilight” free agency, and Beltran will be in his year-before-walk-year year – meanwhile Wright looks to get back on his horse and Bay will want to make some friends. They would still need help in the rotation but the fans would come to the park for the lineup alone.
What Can the Yankees Afford in 2010?
With all the Hot Stove talk over who would look best added to the Yankee and Met lineups and pitching staffs, let’s get down to the brass tacks over how much they may afford to spend going into 2010. Today, let’s consider the Yankees.
The first question is: what comes off and on the books for spring 2010.
The second question is: how to deal with payroll year over year – simply, you can either grow it, shrink it, or leave it flat.
The third question is: what needs to be addressed on the roster?
The last question is: who is out there available that fits the combined profile of roster needs and budget restriction?
Before the Winter Meetings, the Yankees announced very specific plans to get lighter and tighter in 2010, the goal being to bounce out of their World Series win into a cleaner balance sheet. The target as presented by the reporter as $186M, but assumes Cashman’s “-$15M” quote was interpreted correctly, which it may not have been – so let’s consider something first.
I believe that the $201M figure for 2009 may be a tiny bit misleading as it does not seem to take into account the $6M in performance bonuses that Andy Pettitte was awarded, by virtue of his contracted performance bonuses, for staying healthy and pitching 200+ innings through the postseason. So, the corrected baseline for this discussion is $207M with the 2010 target (2009 minus $15M) now at $192M. (Andy will net just $250k more for his 2010 contract versus 2009, although, this year, 100% of the money is 100% guaranteed and 100% unbound from his 2010 performance).
Let’s sum up what comes off the books, and I won’t count the minor league or league minimum contracts so this analysis isn’t THAT precise (feel free to follow along):
Johnny Damon -$13M…Hideki Matsui -$13M…Xavier Nady -$6.5M…CW Wang -$5M…Jason Giambi -$5M (yep)…Jose Molina -$2M…Brian Bruney -$1.25M…that’s a total of -$45.75M off the books.
What grows bigger on the books, as far as salary increases and new contracts?
CC Sabathia +$9M…Grand +$5.5M…Igawa +$4M (yep)…Cano +$3M…Swisher +$1.5M…Jeter +$1M…Marte +$.25M…Pettitte +$.25M (see above)…I’ll assume Mitre and Gaudin would be flat, too…so that’s a total of +$24.5M back on the books.
The net net is -$21.25M in savings so far over last year, so, Cashman appears, when I factor in the $15M in budgeted payroll reduction, to have another $6.25M left to play with for 2010.
So, the first two questions are answered. The next two questions…I leave to you! What do the Yanks need? Who is available for around $6.25M?
Godzilla, Mothra, MechanoGodzilla, Rodan!
Hideki Matsui is a Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim. Arigato-gozai-mashita Matsui-san!!
Roy Halladay is a Phillie. Cliff Lee is a Mariner. A bunch of scrubs-to-be-named -later are Blue Jays. John Lackey and possibly Mike Cameron are Red Sox. Matt Holliday will probably still be a Cardinal. Jason Bay is still up for grabs.
Non-Tender Roundup
The crowded free agent flea market just got even more hectic. The following players have filed for free agency after being non-tendered contracts by their clubs at the deadline over the weekend:
C John Buck, 3B Garrett Atkins, C Raul Chavez, 1B Ryan Garko, C Shawn Riggans, C Mike Rivera, 3B Matthew Brown, 2B Kelly Johnson, 1B Josh Whitesell
RF Brian Anderson, LF Ryan Langerhans, RF Josh Anderson, LF Jeremy Reed, LF Cory Sullivan, RF Gabe Gross, CF Alfredo Amezaga, LF Jonny Gomes (LFer? Jeez, but he looked so comfortable in right field.)
DH Jack Cust
RHP Mark Worrell, RHP Jackson Quezada, RHP Adam Miller, RHP Anthony Reyes, RHP Jose Veras (remember him?), RHP Lance Broadway (remember him?), RHP Brian Bass, RHP Matt Capps, RHP Mike MacDougal, LHP Scott Olsen, RHP Clay Condrey, LHP Neal Cotts, RHP Mark DiFelice, LHP Phil Dumatrait, RHP Chien-Ming Wang, RHP Seth McClung, RHP Dustin Moseley, RHP Tim Redding, RHP Jose Arredondo
Given that most of these players will likely sign for much less than they were worth versus, say, 2008 valuations, this 2009 offseason should factor intriguingly into the agreement negotiations with the MLBPA in 2011. The big question is how the owners will roll with the punches through an economically exhausted market in 2010.
Meanwhile, at least one blogger has declared Johnny Damon the biggest loser from the 2009 Swap Meet Winter Meetings. Johnny and his mad dash to third base have all my sympathies, but business is business and life is Grand.
