Brave's GM Frank Wren had been said that his ultimate goal in this winter is rebuilds the fracture arm depth and finds a powerful outfielder,and he make the first step this week.
The deal has been announced officially-Braves acquired RHP Javier Vazquez and LHP Boone Logan from the White Sox for catcher Tyler Flowers, infielder Brent Lillibridge, third baseman Jon Gilmore and LHP Santos Rodriguez.It seems that it's a nice trade for Brave though they lose the one of the top prospect Tyler Flowers.
"Big Game Javy" is a durable mid-rotation starter, good for 200 innings a year, and still young at 31.Some scouts ponits out that he has the potential to become a elite starter,but fail to meet the expectation.He sits 90-93 mph, bumping 94, without much movement.He works with three off-speed pitches -- slider, curve and changeup -- none plus, both breaking balls around average, the change slightly below, and has better control than command; his 59 unintentional walks this year actually his made up his highest total since his rookie year in 1998. However,his outstanding strikeout ability makes himself so attractive to Brave.Vazquez actually ranks ninth among active starters in strikeouts, 14th in innings pitched, 13th in fewest walks per nine innings,and 11th in home runs allowed.His arrival surely will give Brave a better reliable option.
Flowers, on the other hand, is going to produce offensively at the big-league level, possibly as soon as 2010.He has a very good eye and raw power, particularly to left and left-center. (His 17 home runs may not look impressive, but Myrtle Beach -- high Class A -- is a horrible place to hit.)Just in this month,Flowers crash the AFL pticher by 14 homeruns which is one shy to the AFL record and 1.074 ops.Unfortunatelly,his future seems cloudy just like former catcher prospect Jarrod Saltalammacchia due to the current backstop Brian McCann,who blocks on the homeplate and has proved his ability.
If Flowers reaches or comes near his ceiling, he alone is a good return on two years of Vazquez at a slightly below-market $11 million per year. But if Flowers can't catch or has too much trouble making contact at higher levels, the rest of the package isn't likely to make up for it.
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