Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Vaquez and Logan Traded to Braves

Here I am, eating my words once again. What [I said] was

“Lots of talk about Vazquez being traded. That might be even more laughable because, first of all, he is not a bad pitcher. He’s unreliable, sure, but he has lots of talent. Second, and most important, is that after a bad year, his trade value would be lower. If you’re gonna trade Javi, wait ‘till you can get something good. That’s the idea that the people suggesting we should trade Floyd have, anyway (sell high, buy low…). Anything is possible, but I'd have to see it to believe it.”

Well, I lived to see the day. [Javi Vazquez has been traded to the Braves]- and he’s taking Boone Logan with him. In exchange, the Sox will have the option to choose four of five players offered by the Braves. Their top two prospects are second baseman Brent Lillibridge and minor league catcher Tyler Flores who was tearing up the system with something along the lines of a .387 average with 12 home runs. That’s another $11 million dollar salary the Sox don’t have to deal with.

What do I make of this? Well, first of all, I’m wondering what this means for our starting rotation. While Buehrle, Floyd, and Danks are all strong starters, what of the two remaining spots? There’s Clay Rich, in theory. So that’s that. And there’s been lots of praise passed Poreda’s way. But wasn’t he just in AA? There’s Lance Broadway, but there have been no signs of him advancing. And how about those rumors that the Sox are throwing out their big contracts so they can afford paying C.C. Sabathia? If the Sox hope to be in a pennant race next year, this rumor seems to make a lot of sense.

I really hope this is going somewhere, because as of right now, it just seems like the Sox are trying to multiply the amount of players in their roster. (Swisher traded for 3 players, Javi & Boone traded for 4. -3 + 7 = 4, the number of players the roster has grown by through trades. Granted, we’ve lost Hall, Crede, and Uribe to free agency [Ramirez and Griffey are not worthy of any sort of mention], but there seems to be an excessive inflow of players, but nothing that really seems to be a permanent fix.) Once again, spring training will have to be telling.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is fucking rediculous... if we dont pick up a big pitcher to put in our rotation and another big bat... were screwed next year... yet again a chicago sports team doesnt the unthinkable, don't you just love chicago?

Anonymous said...

Relax. I'm intrigued by the possiblities of this move. Kenny always has something he's not telling us. I feel something big is in the works but, if not, I'm glad we are putting a greater focus on our farm system and developing the next generation.