After returning from a weekend in Barbados blissfully free of any baseball hot stove talk, I come back to find that Javier Vazquez has left the New York Yankees for the National League. That was not at all a surprise, just like it wouldn't surprise me if he has a very strong year for the Florida Marlins in 2011.
His tenure with the Yankees ended when he was kept off the roster for the playoffs, even though an argument could be made that he was a more effective starter in 2010 than AJ Burnett. But the writing was on the wall, especially with Brian Cashman openly admitting that trading for Vazquez a second time was a mistake.
Vazquez has some talent and I’m not at all surprised he got $7 million from the Marlins despite his rough 2010 campaign. I have no doubt he will do better in the National League, with its shorter lineups and away from the glare of the New York spotlight. Say what you will about Vazquez in NY, but he has had good years in other cities, including in Atlanta where he was 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA in 219 innings pitched in 2009.
I would expect a performance closer to his 2009 self than the guy often mercilessly booed at Yankee Stadium this year. I wish him well and I hope other Yankee fans will too because there were other Yankee employees far more responsible for the disappointing end to the 2010 season of the Bronx Bombers.
His tenure with the Yankees ended when he was kept off the roster for the playoffs, even though an argument could be made that he was a more effective starter in 2010 than AJ Burnett. But the writing was on the wall, especially with Brian Cashman openly admitting that trading for Vazquez a second time was a mistake.
Vazquez has some talent and I’m not at all surprised he got $7 million from the Marlins despite his rough 2010 campaign. I have no doubt he will do better in the National League, with its shorter lineups and away from the glare of the New York spotlight. Say what you will about Vazquez in NY, but he has had good years in other cities, including in Atlanta where he was 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA in 219 innings pitched in 2009.
I would expect a performance closer to his 2009 self than the guy often mercilessly booed at Yankee Stadium this year. I wish him well and I hope other Yankee fans will too because there were other Yankee employees far more responsible for the disappointing end to the 2010 season of the Bronx Bombers.
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