The Confusing Braves

As baseball fans all know, the Braves traded pitchers Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan to the Yankees on Tuesday in exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera and two minor league hurlers, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino. The consensus across the sports world is that the Braves didn’t get enough in this deal – which was essentially a salary dump.

Vazquez has one more year at $11 million on his current contract. The Yankees will take on that salary, and they sent $500,000 back to the Braves to… uh, I’m not sure. Buy better hot dogs for 2010? I’m not here to blast the Braves for dealing their No. 1 hurler in exchange for a fourth outfielder. Yes, Vazquez went 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 2009, but the last time he posted anything near those numbers was 2003. They sold high. There’s nothing wrong with getting something in return while the value looks excellent.

Instead, I’m simply trying to figure out what the Braves are thinking for 2010.

Are they contenders?

They signed 38-year-old closer Billy Wagner to a one-year,$7 million deal. They added 39-year-old reliever Takashi Saito via a one-year, $3.2 million contract. Do you sign such grizzled vets if you don’t plan on fighting for the Wild Card? For reference, Rafael Soriano (one year, $7.25 million) and Mike Gonzalez (two years, $12 million) would have cost more than Wagner and Saito, but one might easily argue that the continuity (and youth) would have been worth the extra money.

Are they not contenders?

How do you get rid of Vazquez, Soriano and Gonzalez without receiving any offensive firepower in return? That tells me this team won’t be in position to fight for a Wild Card spot. The two additions to their offense at this point are Cabrera and possibly Jason Heyward.

It would have made sense to me if the Braves decided to take on payroll by keeping Vazquez, Soriano and Gonzalez, re-signing Adam LaRoche, and inking someone like Jermaine Dye to a two-year deal. It would have been costly, but at least it’s taking a stand and saying, “We’re trying to win in Bobby Cox’s last season and before Chipper Jones is completely done.”

It would have made sense if the Braves traded Vazquez and Soriano, let Gonzalez walk, and hadn’t signed Wagner and Saito. They could have sold 2010 as a rebuilding year, issued an apology to Chipper, and publicly admitted that they need the time to clear money and build around Heyward, Brian McCann, Yunel Escobar, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Freddie Freeman, Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, and any other youngsters you want to add to that list. In other words, they could have taken the Indians/Tigers approach. I can understand that.

Instead, the Braves seem to be straddling the line between contending and rebuilding. They can’t figure out which way they are leaning. Maybe it will all make sense if they turn around and use the money they saved on Vazquez to find a big bopper.

Tags: MLB