Javier Vazquez Trade Reactions

I remember some White sox fan telling me rather nastily that the white sox would never even entertain the thought of trading Konerko.

Seems like a reasonable trade for both sides. I'm curious to see what both teams will do next.

Doesnt Vasquez have like 200 + innings/year for like the past forever? no health issues? seems like they are trying to pin down their starting rotation in anticipation of not getting Burnett/Peavy.
Also, I don't think sox are throwing in the towel yet, maybe ozzie just wanting to get rid of some of the older players. The only player i really like out of that group is Konerko. Dye could bring a pretty decent return and Always remember the beginning of signings/trades usually foreshadows something that will happen soon. For example if they trade Dye for some young guys, they might be sending them to someone else to get a starter at his position.......just sayin.

i think the sox won this trade, but it wasn't lopsided. vazquez might tank in atlanta, but i don't really think so. but, he had to get out of chicago. i watched parts of his last 4 starts down the stretch, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind he would blow up. if flowers turns out as advertised, it could turn out to be a big win for the sox. don't know much about the other braves guys, but lillibridge is supposedly fast as hell (right?) which ozzie obviously covets.
i don't really see it as throwing in the towel either, but payroll is obviously tight, just like everyone else in baseball. i see one of dye/thome/konerko getting moved, maybe 2 of them, but i highly doubt all three. maybe it is a complete speed/youth movement on the south side and they all get moved, but kw would have a hard time selling that to the fans and to ozzie. they will definitely be a team to watch at the deadline, should they be on the fringe of contending (and provided not all of the big guys get moved)...

Kudos to the Braves for selling high on Flowers, he's still a raw product. But if this is the last Braves pitching move they're sorely mistaken. This is not a rotation that can guide you through the playoffs, especially with a middle of the road offense. The Braves are a far from finished product if they want to compete with the Mets and Phils.

Anyone else sense this is a prelude to a Bailey and some for Dye trade? As much as it looks like Bailey is damaged goods, everyone was saying that about Floyd at the time of the trade.

This is an awesome trade for ATL. Just awesome.

Vazquez has posted FIPs under 4.5 in all but two years of his career (one of which was his rookie season), and FIPs under 4 in all but four years total of his career. And, he consistently pitches 200+ innings, something the ATL rotation NEEDS, especially if their other addition is a Burnett type.

Flowers, although he was tearing up the AFL, is blocked at catcher, and not that special if he has to move to 1B. Great sell high.

And, Boone Logan's 24. There's no need to write him off now.

Although, Kevin Towers is probably panicking right now. This is BAD for the Padres.

*than

Not fair to say White Sox are in "fire sale" mode. They are getting younger by dumping players that are on the down slide such as Swisher and Javy. THis could be setting up other moods like the trade of Carlos Lee did in 2004/5. It paved the way for a lot of additions to the club.

One thing I always love looking at are the polls ESPN does after a player is traded. It shows the overall results and the results of individual states... The state that believes the strongest that Vazquez will, next year, be better than this year? (C'mon, you can guess) That's right... Georgia. Pretty much everyone else says he'll be the same pitcher.

"Now trade Konerko to the Angels for Brandon Wood(3B), and the Angels let Tex walk and push for Sabathia."

I love it. Sign me up. The White Sox really need to dump some of these old, high priced guys and Konerko is probably the worst of all of them.

If we could move Konerko and land a good prospect as well, I'd be quite happy to do so.

As for the Vazquez deal, my only issue with it is that if Tyler Flowers never pans out, then we really won't get anything out of the deal other than money saved.

It's likely that Gilmore and Rodriguez will never amount to anything, and Lillibridge seems to have confirmed to everyone that he'll never be anything more than a good bench guy.

They really need Flowers to stay behind catcher and take over there long term, because Pierzynski won't last that much longer. He seems likely to be a good OBP guy in the majors so if he can make enough contact and add some power, he may even be able to get away with moving off of catcher.

why vazquez? this is what i was wanting:

give proposed package to san diego for peavy.

fill shortstop position with ryan ludwick with trading kelly johnson.

put martin prado at 2B.

now we still have plenty, plenty of money for another quality starter like burnett, and a power hitting outfielder like dye.

makes so much since, but i guess wren doesn't like to shop economically and with common sense.

Someday there will be a left handed SS, why not break that glass ceiling now??

100

I believe that its much more about making the team younger and faster than it is about a "firesale". Kenny is doing what he and Ozzie feels is best for this team, and opening up payroll to get a Fucall, Dunn, Abreu type as well.

If they could get either Dunn or Abreu on a 2 year deal, they will have had a very nice offseason.

Good deal for the Braves, who will still make a play for AJ now and have a good rotation for '09. As for the Sox, they'll shed some more payroll and it makes me wonder if they'd be interested in Aaron Rowand if the Giants picked up a small part of that salary.

Cabrera - 10 mil or so?
Vazquez- 11 or 12 mil
Swisher-5 mil
Uribe-4.5 mil
Crede-5 mil
Not to mention Contreras huge salary coming off next yr...
The Sox are sitting pretty.

Aaron Rowand to the Sox?

AbsoLUTEly No!

This was 100% about three things: 1) the total bust that is the Nick Swisher trade and the weakness of the farm system left thereafter; 2) the front office and managerial dislike for Vazquez, especially in critical games; and 3) the desire to reduce team spending. $11.5 million for someone who cannot handle the pressure of a big market team is an utter waste. End of story.

I'd flip Dye for Johnny Cueto and Chris Dickerson in a heartbeat if the Reds were willing (foolish enough) to do so. I'm not high at all on Homer Bailey and feel he doesn't carry the confidence that a Cueto or Edinson Volquez does. That cripples blue-chip prospects before ever stepping onto an MLB field.

But I digress. The Vazquez deal had to come at some point, and better now than later. Good return for him and Logan. And I feel this is an obvious first step to get things moving in a different (thankfully younger) direction. Trade Konerko before his value hits a wall (as if it hasn't already) and trade Dye while he still commands considerable value.

I think Furcal is reallly who Kenny wants. He is the perfect kinda player for Ozzie ball

Dunn would MASH at the cell, i would be all for that.

We need to get rid of Konerko and/or Thome quick. I would rather keep Dye and get rid of those 2. We could live with a Sean Casey at first if Konerko is gone.

Why would we want Dunn if Paulie and Thome are there? If KW got rid of those slow azz runners, Dunn would be an okay addition, but please don't bring another player like that to this lineup.

Good luck dumping konerko and thome... I'd like to have utley at 2nd and david wright at 3rd... maybe we can trade for them?

Look at it realistically. If we are able to trade one of konerko/thome, it would be shocking.

Either way, if both are still here next spring, I don't mind.

rfro, I think he was joking. Nobody believes either of those guys could be had, plus Utley is hurt now anyway.

Anybody who's convinced the White Sox are going to be players in the free agent market hasn't been paying attention. The one thing Reinsdorf loves more than anything is money. The Bulls have always been one of the top teams in the NBA in attendance & they have the 6th lowest payroll in the league. And now, with the Tampa Bay Rays blowing the Sox out of the water in the playoffs, look for Reinsdorf to try to duplicate their success, with young pitchers & the majority of the everyday lineup making minimum wage. And now they're talking about dumping Dye & Jenks' salaries for prospects? God, it's hard to be a Sox fan these days!