Melky traded to Braves for Vasquez.
 

www.yankees.com

It appears the Yankees have reacquired Javy Vasquez in a multi player deal involving Melky Cabrera. Javy has been solid recently, espeically last year, and hopefully will fit in that 4th slot for the Yankees.

Melky was a solid player too,a nd this may reopen Johnny Damon for Lf (w Gardner frequent fill in) or for someone like Jermaine Dye.

If they resign Damon, or maybe get Dye, I like the deal. if not, it doesnt make too much sense, at least offensively.

As a Braves fan I would have liked to see them use Vaz for a first baseman.
Correction, I would have liked to see them use Lowe for a 1B.

Javy has always confounded me. I was excited when the Yankees first got him back in 2004.

By rights he should have been a front line elite ace for whatever team he's been on throughout his career. He's just real inconsistent. He'll look like an ace for stretches and out of nowhere regress into a 4th or 5th type starter for other long stretches.

He's also a season to season question mark. He had a good year last year, so based on his track record he's probably due for an off-season this year.........especially moving to the American League.

Hopefully he can stay healthy, eat up some innings, win 15 games or so for the Yanks and stabilize the back-end of the rotation.

Offensively Melky can easily be replaced. Defensively, that's another matter. I think the Yankees felt the need to try and match the Red Sox signing of John Lackey and it was a chance they were willing to take.

I really thought the Braves were going to keep Vaz and let Lowe go which was my preference but I guess they just couldn't get a deal done for Lowe.

Melky is a good player and he will succeed incredibly with the Braves. He always gives 110%, and the Yankees really gave up a great player to get an NL pitcher who hasn't had sustained success in the AL. I'm not really sure why they were willing to do that.

I hope you are right. I can't see him being any better than McLouth. I guess if Heyward is ready they could have an outfield of Cabrera, McLouth and Heyward and if not they still have Diaz. Not sure we needed another 10-15 HR outfielder.

The Braves dominated the NL East in the 90's with a great pitching staff. They had flashes of offense but never really were run scorers.

I felt in August and September of this year the pitching staff was beginning to come together and that if Lowe could get back to form they would be back to the team that centers around the rotation.

I know Vaz has an unpredictable past but I thought he was pretty consistent last year and would have been great if the offense could have given him some run support in June and July. He could have easily won another 3-5 games with just a little run support.

I agree, I lived here for the whole run. But they won 1 World Series bc at the end of the day they couldn't hit in the postseason and you can't expect all your starters to give up 2-3 runs per game in the post season when you are playing the best teams. I like their staff but they can't match up at the plate with the Phillies or the Cardinals.

Jeff,

I agree the Braves haven't been an offensive powerhouse in the last 20 years and that may have cost them a few titles.

I have felt recently like the front office (Wren) is making more off season moves to actually improve the team than in years past. Nothing blockbuster, but far more off season moves than Braves fans have been accustomed too.

I like Wren's approach as well. I really liked the McLouth deal and I would be happy with LaRoche back.

Melky is not a great player by any means. He is an above average 4th OFer and a way above average defensive outfielder. As far as his offense, you aren't going to see much more than he has already done. He can definitely get the big hit, but do you really think he is going to hie more than 275-280? Or more than 15-18 HR? I am not the biggest Vazquez fan, but I thought it was a great deal for us because he isn't going to be counted on to be the savior. He is probably the best 4th starter in baseball and with the Yankees offense his durability should net him at least 15 wins.

The Yanks took advantage of a great opportunity to improve their pitching depth by IMO giving up a marginal offensive OFer. Now hopefully they can re-sign Damon for 2 years to keep the Jeter-Damon 1-2 punch intact!

Troy Glaus
 

Looks like the Braves have their first baseman. Let's hope they can get at least 100 games out of him.

When Glaus is healthy he is better than LaRoche IMO. Low risk high reward kind of deal, hope it works out for you guys!

Agreed, but based on recent history that is a big "if." I hope it works out too. I doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that an aging Chipper needs a little protection in that lineup.