There's been a lot of grumbling about bringing Vazquez back for another round in the Bronx. The knocks on Javy are: (1) He's a NL pitcher; in his stints in the AL, he sucked. (2) He's not a big-game pitcher, with a mammoth 10.34 ERA in the postseason.

Let's look at (1): Javy had a great year for the White Sox in 2007: He went 15-8, with 213 strikeouts, a 3.87 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. In an excellent breakdown of Vazquez, RAB points out just how strong the first half of his 2004 season with the Yankees was:

Through 18 starts, Javy averaged almost 6.2 innings per start, posting a 3:1 K/BB ratio and allowing just 47 runs through 118.2 innings.

Obviously, shortly after making the All-Star team, everything came unglued for him that year. Is he a guy who can't finish? No. Per LoHud:

Over his final 22 starts of 2009, Vazquez posted a 2.49 ERA with 160 strikeouts and just 29 walks in 155.1IP, while limiting opponents to a .217 average.

The guy had shoulder problems in the second half of 2004. Enough said.

In terms of (2): Vazquez has logged 15.2 innings in the post-season: 2004 with the Yankees and 2008 with the White Sox. Over those admittedly abysmal innings, he gave up 18 ERs. So let's take a similar sample size from Sabbathia for his 2007 and 2008 postseason appearances. In 19 IP for Cleveland and Milwaukee, CC gave up 20 ERs. Which tells you precisely what?

If you believe the maxim that, given enough postseason appearances, a guy's numbers will start to synch up with his regular season numbers, then what does that get us? Over his career, Vazquez is 15th on the active leaders rankings for WHIP. Click that link. Seriously, just click it. You know who shows up in the top 15? Aces, plus Mo and Trevor Hoffman. Guess where CC falls into that group? # 13.

Vazquez will be going into a contract year with a chip on his shoulder. His last experience in the Bronx was a disappointment, yes. But we got a #4 pitcher with a very real capability of pushing AJ and Andy (and, if the stars align, even CC) down the depth chart.

For the price of Melky and Mike Dunn? It's a no brainer. It's Vizcaino who makes this deal even moderately debatable.

So says Ken Rosenthal:

Swisher, 29, is the right guy to move; he will not improve much on his 29-homer, 82-RBI season, and his over-the-top gregariousness eventually will wear thin. The Braves love Swish, and would love even more to obtain him for right-hander Derek Lowe. The Yankees should pass on that idea – Lowe turns 37 on June 1 and has not pitched in the American League since 2004. Swisher for prospects would be a better move, and the Yankees then could sign some innings eater at a reasonable price to be their No. 4 starter.

I’ve got no problem with the Yankees refusing to give Damon big money for three or four years. I’ve also got no problem with Boras advocating for his client and trying to suck every last dollar out of the biggest money-making machine in sports. It’s business, and we’ve all become accustomed to the familiar off-season song-and-dance.

Well, enough already.

Damon needs the Yankees, and the Yankees need Damon.

Get it done.

Thoughts?

With all the talk of the "untouchables" in our farm system, I thought this cautionary tale was worth a read. Remember Todd Van Poppel? As sure thing pitchers go, he was about as big a disappointment as you can get. For position players, I'd rank Steve Balboni at the top of the list of major league busts. 

Two years ago, all the hot stove talk here was about the Trinity: Joba, Hughes and IPK. It's still possible that they could all put it together and anchor a dreadnought rotation for the next decade. Joba and Hughes have demonstrated that they can play a role at the major league level, but so far, neither has proven they're anything more than a # 4 starter or an 8th inning guy. And Kennedy got shellacked in his last winter league outing.

It's a big jump from AAA to MLB. You hate to trade away a prospect that turns into Mike Lowell. But the chances of that happening are less than trading away a sure thing that becomes a journeyman.

To create a little reality check, I thought I'd see who everybody thought was the biggest bust as a prospect, as well as who you think turned into the one who got away. For the one who got away nominees, consistency is key. (Last year, I would have put Dioner Navarro in the one who got away category. This year, not so much.)

I just saw this quote from Jimmy Rollins on RAB:

“They were the better team this series,” Rollins said after the game. “Do I think we’re the better team? I really do. They just executed. I think we weren’t playing bad, but they were playing that much better. They got the hits, we didn’t. It’s that simple.”

Classy, right? Which brings up my next question:

Who was the better team: The Angels or the Phillies? I actually think the Phillies were the third best team in baseball this year.

Having Andy taking the mound tomorrow in Philly gives me confidence that we can re-take home field advantage. I think we're going to need it because Cliff Lee is IN THE ZONE right now. (The behind-the-back catch? Christ. How do you beat that?)

Still, a key issue is what do about the young gun relievers. Roberston may have been the victim (sigh) of poor calls, but what Hughes, Chamberlain and Bruney are going to do, game to game, is anybody's guess. Clearly, Girardi felt the same way last night, going with Mo for 6 outs. I just don't see how we can ride our starters, LOOGYs, Roberston and Mo to victory against the Phillies.

So let's assume Bruney's seen his last serious appearance. Does Girardi keep working through the kinks with Hughes? Is Chamberlain the next call in a 7th inning situation? Or is it Robertson? Does Girardi toy with Gaudin or Aceves in late innings?

Here we go again...A-Rod's admission has that carousel of moralizing columnists and talking heads moving again. Sigh.

This is one sticky wicket, and honestly, at this point, Bonds, Clemens and A-Rod seem victims of MLB's catastrophically flawed approach to steroids, with Clemens and Bonds also victims of their own hubris to the extent that they are likely going to jail for perjury. This the nub of the issue: An illegal, performance-enhancing substance was not banned in baseball until 2004. If we're to believe Canseco--and at this point, why shouldn't we?--steroids were rampant in clubhouses for well over a decade before that.

It's hard to believe that Selig et al did not make a conscious decision to keep the issue at an arm's length for as long as possible. Perhaps they reasoned that the data was not clear, that the facts were not all in, that previous generations had been hopped up on speed to get through 162 games. As likely, I think they feared the repecursions of placing the issue on center stage. McGuire and Sosa's battle for the home run record brought the game back to life. And that little bottle of andro in McGuire's locker? Well, you'd have to ask him about that.

Am I alone in thinking that the tax dollars we're spending to put Bonds in jail, send IRS agent Jeff Nowitzky scouring the seedy world of Houston bodybuilders and hold Congressional hearings could be better spent elsewhere? Certainly, something that can give you an extra ten feet of lift on your fly ball, or a few extra MPH on your fastball may not be equivalent to Mantle popping greenies to get up for the game. But are the steroid users of this era of clearly lesser moral character than previous generations?

...yet.

I was delighted to see that IPK had nearly thrown a no-hitter in Scranton. Glad to see that he's back on our radar and making a case for a promotion to the Bronx. I'd love to see a replay of last year, when he comes up in August and makes a big impression.

But please, brass, be patient. Give him at least 2 more starts in Scranton. Let Ponson and Rasner soak up the innings for a bit longer. Let IPK build up a good head of steam. He needs to string some consecutive strong outings together before he gets the call up.

My two cents.

Consider me the lone voice of dissent in saying that while Wells himself is not the right move, throwing the young guns into the mix to see if one of them can handle the challenge isn't either. Let's see IPK string another couple victories together in Scranton. White and Marquez aren't ready yet either; otherwise, nobody in their right mind would have put Igawa on the mound yesterday. Rasner did well last go-round, and hopefully he can fill the #4 slot for a bit. McCutch and the rest: Let's discuss in July.

Here's the point:

The idea of bringing in a veteran, in my view, is about letting the young guns develop at their own pace. This is not Tampa, and we're not the Rays. I saw the long list RAB put up the other day, laying out all the in-house talent they'd prefer to give a shot over Wells. While I'd probably pick AAA talent over tub-o-goo, let's get real about how one a.) develops young talent and b.) does it in NYC.

The Yankee organization needs to stop over-compensating for years of larding the roster with overage stars by suddenly putting all of the onus on the young guns.

Okay, the ship has partially sailed. That's a given. And hopefully, IPK can get back into the swing, Rasner can hold down the fort and Hughes can get his mojo back. But organizationally, this focus on throwing kid after kid into the breach is sort of like trench warfare. Yeah, sooner or later, somebody's going to get through, but the attrition rate is too high.

Let's be smart about it. And let's give these kids a lot bigger net. Because it's all a game of expectations. Last year, IPK and Hughes had far less, and they won the expectations game. This year? Not so much.

Ed got me thinking about why I'm a bit disengaged this year. The process of developing young talent is always a bit of a trial, no matter how strong a fan one may be.

But that, I think, is really only part of the issue. I can live with a young group of players. However, we're also breaking in a new pair of owners and a new manager. The whole organization, in my view, is up in the air a bit. In fact, there's an argument to be made that the Yanks have the third best organization just in the AL East.

Curious what everybody else thinks...

is now all about depth. Even if Joba's move to the rotation gives us the semblance of a starting 5, Phil and IPK are definitely looking more like reclamation projects in 2008. Meaning: Cashman's youth movement needs to produce some unlikely heroes. Otherwise, the big non-deal last winter will probably get him canned.

Jscape, is there anybody in the pipeline beyond Rasner that could be helpful? With Horne on the DL, does White look like the best candidate to come up next?