A Rebuttal to Anonymous (and other pro-Vazquez fans) Argument in the Comments

In El Duque's 10 Reasons Why We Will Suck post, Anonymous #8 posted a rather well thought out list of reasons as to why this trade is beneficial to the Yankees. His reasoning, with IIH's take on it below in italics:

1. Vazquez was an all-star in 2004 and pitched the second half of the season hurt. He's pretty much an innings eating strikeout machine which makes him an ideal #3 starter. If you want to blame somebody for 2004, blame shoddy relief pitching, awful defense, anemic offense and poor management.

2004 is much more than Vazquez's fault. Yes, you can blame shoddy relief pitching, awful defense, anemic offense, and poor management. BUT INJURY IS NO EXCUSE FOR FAILURE. Don't believe me? See Schilling, Curt. He pitched hurt. He's a huge douchebag, but his team won in 2004. Schilling's a winner. Vazquez isn't. We want winners.

2. A 30 HR centerfielder coming to a hitters park and surrounded by one of the premiere lineups in the game will be fine. His only deficiency is his numbers against left handed pitching. Frankly, he's better than Melky Cabrera in every aspect of the game.

Not gonna lie, I agree with this. But the Yankees are now missing a third outfielder. Gardner's not an everyday player, and Mark DeRosa (a guy the rumor mill is saying Cash is swooning over) is a useless journeyman. Granderson might be an upgrade over Melky, but Nick Johnson and Mark DeRosa are MUCH WORSE than Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon.


3. Nick Johnson's an OBP machine. And so was Abreu. Having men on base is a good thing. If you're going to have a criticism against Johnson, it should be his injury history.

We're not the Oakland A's. We don't care about OBP. Why? Cause we could afford players who can HIT THE BALL. Yeah, suprise, what a novel concept. We find a huge flaw in replacing our World Series MVP with a guy who looks at pitches. Because Matsui didn't win a World Series MVP by walking up to the plate and hoping Pedro throws his 82mph fastball out of the strike zone. If Abreu was so good, he might have a World Series ring. And Randy Johnson was a failure in every sense of the word during his tenure in pinstripes

4. Robbie Cano's problem is plate discipline, not the number of buddies he has to party with at 2am the night before a game.

Robbie Cano's also had problems with a lack of hustle and effort in 2008. Remember the Robbie Cano who didn't care enough to bend over for a ground ball?

5. Phil Coke is a dime-a-dozen reliever. A lefty specialist with a 4.50 ERA isn't anything to write home about.

Coke sucks, but Boone Logan's 5.78 ERA is worse. And quite frankly we're happy that Cashman went out and found a worse version of Phil Coke. Gives us more to rant about.

6. Actually, right now the starting LF is Brett Gardner. The season also doesn't start until April, last time I checked.

Brett Gardner hit three home runs last year, one of which was an inside the park home run. He has NO power and therefore shouldn't be taking up a corner outfield spot, where we need production in the lineup. And our so-called "budget" doesn't allow us to get a better left fielder before April.

7. I think the lesson is "be a mediocre 4th outfielder and you're expendable"

We'd rather send the message: "Go 2 innings, let up 6 runs, walk 5, let up 2 home runs in a Game 7 with a World Series berth and the Curse of the Bambino on the line and you're expendable."


8. Colin Curtis had a terrific season in the AFL and is expected to compete for an OF spot in spring training.

Upon further review, that he did. But this doesn't mean we can bank on him hitting Major League pitching just yet.

9. Why wouldn't he have a season like 2009? Those numbers are very close to his career averages.

Javy Vazquez was pitching against powerhouse lineups like the Nationals and the Mets. Calista Flockhart could beat those teams.

10. Jackson is overrated (look at his AAA numbers. 123Ks doesn't exactly profile you to be Bernie Williams II ). Ian Kennedy sucks. He's maybe a #4 starter for a .500 NL team. Get over it. Dunn isn't even major league material. Vizcaino is a teenage prospect which is hardly bankable for the future. I bet you thought Eric Duncan and Drew Henson were can't miss prospects too, huh?

I think Jackson has the potential to become a really good player, but I'm at ease with the Granderson deal now that Cashmoney pulled this one off. Kennedy does suck. Dunn as well. Vizcaino is a teenage prospect, but the Yankees need to hold on to those foreign prospects. We can't draft that type of talent when we have the 30th pick in the draft every year, and the foreign market allows us to do what we do best: throw money at talented (albeit 16 year old) baseball players until they can't say no. See Sabathia, CC.

Why do I get the sense this blog is written by somebody who booed A-Rod up until 2009 and can't name the shortstop before Derek Jeter?

We did boo A-Rod because well he wasn't doing his job. And the shortstop before Jeter was Tony Fernandez. Before Fernandez, it was a platoon of Gallego and Randy Velarde. And might I add, Fernandez was the second to last Yankee to hit for the cycle. I think we all know the last one...