Braves forced to move Javier Vazquez?

by Eli Greenspan on Sep 10, 2009 10:09 AM EDT Comment 1 comment

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that the large salary of Javier Vazquez may force the Braves to trade him this offseason. With Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami, and Vazquez, they make up nearly half of the Braves' entire payroll.

With Vazquez putting up great numbers, it almost makes sense to unload Kawkami, and go with a rotation that features three guys with ten wins or more, rookie Tommy Hanson who already has nine wins, and a former All-Star fresh off the disabled list.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Javier Vazquez	12-9	32	28	1	0	0	0	188.1	160	67	64	18	40	208	3.06	1.06

Vazquez has 11.5 million dollars remaining on his contract, so the Braves would have to eat a considerable portion for him to be moved. However, moving Kawakami - who has 2 years and 13.3 million dollars remaining - would be much more affordable for rival clubs.

The Brewers are a club that could give him a shot at the bottom end of their rotation.

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Javier Vazquez

Eli Greenspan must be kidding about the Braves having to eat part of Vazquez’s salary if they decide to trade him. Given the numbers he has put up this year, his annual salary of $11.5 million is very reasonable. While obviously there is no guarantee that Javy will replicate these numbers again; he has had a better year than Kawakami, is much more of a proven commodity than than Kawakami, and has much more trade value than Kawakami.

by atl2323 on Sep 13, 2009 2:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs