Free Agent Stock Watch: Javier Vazquez
The Yankees acquired Javier Vazquez from the Braves last offseason to help solidify the back of their rotation, but he's proven to be of little help. It was the second time Vazquez was traded in as many offseasons, and the fifth time he was dealt in six years. Despite being in the show for 13 seasons now, he has never been a free agent, instead opting for security in the form of contract extensions. Let's look at Vazquez's stock as he prepares to hit the open market for the first time…
The Good
- Vazquez has a reputation as one of the game's best workhorses, logging at least 198 innings (under 200 IP just once) and 32 starts every year from 2000 to 2009. His strikeout-to-unintentional walk ratio is an amazing 2,001-488 during that time (8.3 K/9, 2.0 BB/9).
- He projects as a Type-B free agent, so whatever team signs him would not have to surrender a draft pick to do so. Regardless, the Yanks are unlikely to offer him arbitration anyway.
The Bad
- At 34-years-old, Vazquez is no spring chicken and all of those innings might finally be catching up to him. His average fastball velocity has dipped to just 88.7 mph this year, down from 91.1 last year and 91.7 the year before. It's gotten worse as the season has gone on as well.
- His performance this season ranks among the worst in his career. His 157.1 IP are his fewest since 1999, and his 5.32 ERA forced the Yankees to remove him from the rotation (and into long relief) earlier this month in favor of rookie starter Ivan Nova.
- Javy is also extremely homer prone, allowing 32 this season and no fewer than 20 in any single season of his career.
- Vazquez has always preferred to remain on the East Coast, close to his home and family in Puerto Rico, so West Coast clubs are likely out of luck.
The Verdict
Vazquez seemed like a lock for a multi-year deal coming into the season, but it's hard to imagine him getting more than one guaranteed year right now. He'll likely have to settle for a one-year "prove yourself" kind of contract and hope he improves his stock next season. That said, if an offseason of rest helps him regain his old form, Vazquez could end up being a potential bargain on a short-term, low-money deal.
Gammons On Ortiz, Beltre, Dunn, Crawford, Dice-K
In his latest appearance on WEEI's Big Show, Peter Gammons discussed the playoffs, the offseason, and, of course, the Red Sox. Here are the highlights:
- The Red Sox will likely pick up David Ortiz's 2011 option in part because they'd be afraid to see him playing for the Yankees or Rays if they let him go.
- Adrian Beltre was never comfortable in Seattle like he was in Los Angeles and is in Boston. Gammons thinks the third baseman could end up signing with the Tigers this winter and wonders if he'd be uncomfortable in Detroit's spacious home park.
- Although Adam Dunn insists he doesn't want to DH, he may end up having no other choice. The Nationals appear unlikely to re-sign Dunn because "they don’t know where to play him in the field," according to Gammons, who says the Yankees are a potential destination for the slugger.
- If they pursue either player, the Red Sox are more likely to go after Carl Crawford than Jayson Werth.
- Crawford signing with the Angels may not be as likely as people think, Gammons says, since owner Arte Moreno "isn’t always great with free agents."
- Daisuke Matsuzaka is a trade candidate this winter, and Gammons can envision Boston dealing him to the Mets for Carlos Beltran.
Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Broxton, Zambrano, Pujols
On this date 15 years ago, the Yankees and Rockies became the first Wild Card teams in baseball history. Both were eliminated in the League Championship Series however, with the Mariners and Braves doing the honors. Nine Wild Card teams have reached the World Series since, with the Marlins (1997 & 2003), Angels (2002), and Red Sox (2004) taking home championships.
A few days before the 2010 postseason begins, let's look around the baseball blogosphere…
- 1 Blue Jays Way interviewed Mel Queen, Toronto's senior adviser of Player Development.
- Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness tries to find a taker for Jonathan Broxton.
- Pine Tar And Pocket Protectors attempts to determine if a Carlos Zambrano trade would be worth it for the Cubs.
- Royals Review wonders if Gregor Blanco is part of Kansas City's future.
- Red Sox Beacon looks at what Boston must do to fix its bullpen.
- Beyond The Box Score breaks down the performance of the Yankees' four $20MM a year players.
- The Sports Banter places odds on whether or not four clubs could acquire Albert Pujols.
- Cubs Pack tries to figure out who will hit leadoff on Chicago's north side next season.
- The Southpaw examines Jose Bautista's MVP case.
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Odds & Ends: Darvish, Feliciano, D’Backs, Blue Jays
As the Padres face a big uphill battle in San Francisco this weekend, we look at some news items….
- Yu Darvish's likely posting fee could be around $25MM and the right-hander might look for a five-year deal from an MLB club, suggest sources of Matt Cerrone of Metsblog.com. The Mets, Yankees, Rangers and Braves are listed as four of the eight teams who have shown an interest in Darvish, and we know the Rays have watched him pitch as well.
- Pedro Feliciano's struggles against right-handed hitters will prevent the reliever from earning a big contract this winter, writes David Brown of Yahoo Sports. The fact that Feliciano is a Type A free agent will also hurt his cause, since teams will shy away from losing a draft pick to sign a limited relief pitcher.
- Rafael Soriano, Cody Ross, David DeJesus and Francisco Rodriguez are among several free agents or trade candidates that Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic thinks the D'Backs might consider acquiring.
- Bob Gebhard, the Diamondbacks' vice-president and special assistant to the GM, will survive the expected front office changes in Arizona this winter, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
- Nightengale also tweets that Tim Wallach is "picking up plenty of steam" in regards to the Toronto manager's job. The Rockies have granted hitting coach Don Baylor permission to interview for that same position, reports Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.
- The Everett Daily Herald's Kirby Arnold lists several Mariners who might not be with the team next season, including Jose Lopez, David Aardsma and Casey Kotchman.
- Dodgers assistant GM Logan White told Baseball America's Jim Callis that he hasn't been fired by L.A., and is "working for the team until…told otherwise" (both Twitter links). Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus tweeted about "rumors starting to swirl" that White and the Dodgers were parting ways earlier in the day. White was one of several candidates interviewed for the Arizona general manager's job that eventually went to Kevin Towers.
- The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore lists five possible replacements for Adam Dunn if the Nationals don't re-sign the slugger.
- In a chat with fans on Thursday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News predicted that the Rangers would announce contract extensions for manager Ron Washington and GM Jon Daniels within a week of Texas' final playoff game.
- Trevor Hoffman hasn't decided if he will play next year yet, but if he does, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy predicts Hoffman will look for "a situation in which he at least has a chance to be the closer."
Odds & Ends: Brewers, Buehrle, Francis, Vazquez
Miguel Olivo never played a major league game for the A's, but he signed with Oakland as an amateur free agent 14 years ago today. Here are some afternoon links, including an update on Olivo…
- Steve Foster of Inside the Rockies breaks down some of Colorado's offseason decisions and says Olivo wants to stay in Denver next year.
- Brewers owner Mark Attanasio gave GM Doug Melvin a strong vote of confidence, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- Mark Buehrle repeated to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune that he'll consider retiring after the 2011 season.
- Rockies manager Jim Tracy told Troy E. Renck and Jim Armstrong of The Denver Post that he'd "absolutely" like to see Jeff Francis on next year's team. Colorado will likely decline its $7.5MM option for the lefty's services, but could re-sign him nonetheless.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post says the Yankees are not going to offer Javier Vazquez arbitration this winter and predicts that the right-hander will sign a one-year deal with a base salary of $4MM or so.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports explains why he considers Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston "a proud and often outspoken man who carried himself with dignity in a business that isn’t always fair."
Odds & Ends: Papelbon, Yankees, Pujols, Webb
Links for Monday, as Roy Halladay attempts to lead the Phillies to another division title…
- Good news for Jack Zduriencik: Mariners president Chuck Armstrong told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that team executives are "not thinking about changing the general manager at all."
- Jim Donaldson of the Providence Herald asks a question the Red Sox are likely wondering about, too: does Jonathan Papelbon deserve a raise in 2011?
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that the trio of Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson provides the team with a well-rounded outfield going forward. The Yankees could always bid on Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford, but those outfielders appear to be luxuries, not necessities.
- Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes (on Twitter) that Albert Pujols would approve trades to the Astros, Marlins, Dodgers and Angels. The first baseman isn't going anywhere, but Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel has a little fun and wonders what it would take for the Marlins to acquire him.
- Brandon Webb, who hasn't pitched in the majors since making his 2009 season debut, won't pitch for the Diamondbacks this year, according to MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. Webb is about to hit free agency and will be looking for a significant base salary. He'll have to prove he's healthy first, so he'll pitch in the instructional league this week. Webb reiterated his desire to return to the D'Backs, and new GM Kevin Towers is open to the idea as well.
Heyman On Cubs, Pettitte, V-Mart
SI's Jon Heyman leads his latest column with a look at the Cubs' managerial opening. He feels that interim manager Mike Quade is now a real possibility, with Ryne Sandberg the other top contender. Heyman's other info:
- "Word around the team" is that Yankees lefty Andy Pettitte is 50-50 on whether he'll play next year.
- Heyman passes along an unconfirmed report from a competing executive that Boston's offer to Victor Martinez was about $22MM over two years. Martinez's former teammate C.C. Sabathia expects the catcher to sign elsewhere, as he's seeking a four-year contract. Whatever the amount, Martinez rejected the two-year offer in August. Martinez profiles as a highly-ranked Type A free agent, so the Red Sox might at least end up with a pair of draft picks. Any first-rounder received will be the 19th overall pick at best.
- Jose Reyes "expects the Mets to either pick up his $11 million option or offer him an extension," writes Heyman. Reyes sports a .284/.322/.429 line this year and could be primed for a big 2011.
Odds & Ends: Pettitte, Marlins, Laird, Pirates, Ely
Sunday links, as the Rays look to extend their league-best winning streak to five games….
- Andy Pettitte tells Newsday's Ken Davidoff that his participation in the government's indictment of Roger Clemens won't impact his baseball future. The 38-year-old also says he doesn't expect to still be playing at age 40.
- Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post tweets that the Marlins have no timetable for when they'll hire a permanent manager, though they have a short list of four or five candidates.
- Like teammate Jeremy Bonderman, Gerald Laird isn't sure whether he'll be a Tiger next year. "If a better opportunity presents itself, I'll probably take that route," the backstop told Tom Gage of the Detroit News (Twitter link)
- GM Neal Huntington discusses the Pirates' upcoming offseason with Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, noting that the club may pursue a platoon partner for Garrett Jones at first base.
- Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun wonders if the Orioles will aggressively go after an impact bat this winter.
- John Ely may be pitching himself out of the Dodgers' 2011 plans, writes Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times.
Manager & Coaching Notes: Astros, Cubs, Jays
Lots of talk about managers and coaches floating around today; let's congregate them all in one place:
- In this series of tweets, MLB.com's Alyson Footer tells us that the Astros offered their whole coaching staff two-year extensions. All were accepted, aside from Jeff Bagwell, who will decide on his in the offseason after talking more with his family.
- Astros manager Brad Mills, who is signed through 2011 with a club option for 2012, will have his situation formally addressed this offseason as well. Footer thinks it's a formality, calling Mills "terrific" and saying he'll be in Houston beyond 2012.
- Bob Brenly is not a candidate to manage the Cubs in 2011, writes MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Brenly doesn't feel that the situation is right for him on a personal or professional level. He will, however, still talk to other clubs.
- Yankees third base coach Rob Thomson told Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links) that he hasn't heard from the Blue Jays about their managerial opening, and won't discuss it until the season is over. For now, he's staying focused on New York's postseason run.
Poll: The Best Record In Baseball
There's just a little more than a week left in the season, and with the exception of the NL West and NL Wild Card, the playoff teams are all but set. Now it's just a matter of sorting out the seeding.
For most of the season it's been assumed that whoever won the AL East would finish the season with the best record in all of baseball, but suddenly that's not the case any more. The Phillies staked a claimed to best record with last night's win, their 11th in a row to put their season record at 93-61. Both the Rays and Twins sit half-a-game behind them at 92-61, and the Yankees are within a game of Philly with a 92-62 record. No other team is within six games of the Phillies.
Since the NL won the All Star Game and thus clinched home field advantage in the World Series, having the best record in baseball isn't worth much beyond bragging rights. That might not mean anything to the teams, but it certainly means something to us fans. Remember, you can always check out the reverse standings (for draft order purposes) at our page, but it's time to vote…
Which team will finish with the best record in baseball?