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Great trade for the Yankees, not so good for the Braves..

It's a tough question to answer but I think we need to seperate ourselves from the media to really analyze the trade. First, Vasquez is not the most dominant pitcher in the world...despite what the pro-yankee media will have you believe. Sure, he's a solid 3/4, but let's not over-react to the yankees trading for a guy they already had and has been with 5 teams recently. As far as Cabrera, he doesnt really help the braves offensivly that much. You also forgot to mention Dunn, a pitcher that many scouts projected higher than the lefties in the yankee bullpen. So much for the "homegrown" talent method...lol. Remember that farce? It's not a blockbuster trade either way...it helps the yankee starting pitching depth, and at least sures up the braves outfield and provides them with a top relief prospect. Before the trade the yankees were the AL favorite, they still are. Before the trade the braves were a 2nd to 3rd place team...they still are.

It was a bad trade for the Braves AND the Yankees.

In raw stats, the Braves overpaid for Melky. They can afford to give up good pitching for a good outfielder, but they clearly gave up a better pitcher than the outfielder they got in return, and I say that as a big fan of Melky. I was at the game where he had his "Yankee Moment", robing his first home run, bouncing off the wall, and doing his first Superman Slide. Amazing play, his first career highlight. A solid reliable, not outstanding but always good pitcher is simply worth more than a good fielder who hits for a reasonable average and reasonable power at what may be getting close to his full potential (he's been playing for a few years now, he's going to keep getting better, but maybe not that much better). Even with the other 3 players balancing the deal out, it's still a bad trade for the Braves. They perhaps could have gotten a better outfielder for less.

For the Yankees, it's simply the wrong move. They already have CC, Burnett, and Pettitte, with a back end made up of a mix of Mitre, Gaudan, Hughes, Chamberlain, and maybe Wang if the Yanks resign him (they probably will with an incentive based deal, he's a gamble the Yankees would feel more comfortable with than most teams would, they can give him an incentive based deal that could trigger a longer term contract for decent money, knowing that if he truly comes back to what he was, he's a #1 type starter). They dropped the ball on Lackey, but they still aren't desperate for starters.

In the outfield, on the other hand, now consists of Granderson, Gardner, and Swisher. They already traded their #1 prospect (Austin Jackson, supposed to be better than either Gardner or Melky and expected to reach the majors in 2010) to get Granderson. Now they traded Melky. They might resign Damon, but an aging Damon, especially with Johnson (I don't know why they signed him, he's a great player who came up as a Yankees, but there's no room for him) and Posada taking all the DH time, Damon can only help so much in the field at his age. The Yankees really needed to keep at least Melky OR Jackson. Trading both of them leaves them with a rotation full of decent pitchers who have no spot to pitch and a very weak outfield.

I would have expected a trade for Crawford in return for a pitcher and a catching prospect. The Yankees have 3 top catching prospects. They could even trade Montero, the #1 catching prospect in the majors, and in the top 10 overall (along with Jackson), since Cervelli has already proven himself and they can't keep 2 catchers at that level since neither one will play backup for more than a few years. Only one of them can take over for Posada and Cervelli's already proven he can do that. If the Yankees can pull off that deal, then I'll be OK with the Melky trade, but making the Melky deal before securing Crawford or someone else solid in the outfield was a mistake, even if the raw stats work out in the Yankees favor.

Yeah I was livid when I heard about this trade. I have been calling for Wren's head ever since he traded Tex for Kotchman and Marek (the two draft picks would've been way better than that). Then he followed that up by overpaying for Lowe (our worst pitcher last year statistically..with a $15 million price tag) and Kawakami (a solid #5 starter...but at $8 million a year?). Then he treated two franchise icons like trash (Smoltz/Glavine...although Glavine moreso than Smoltz). Now he trades away the staff ace of arguably the best starting rotation in the Bigs statistically who finished 4th in Cy Young voting last year. I can see trading Vazquez if an offer comes along that you cannot refuse, but we got Dunn (6 something ERA last year from a converted outfielder...wow that'll be a big help Wren...), Cabrera (a sub-par, mediocre-at-best 4th outfielder with no more power than anyone else had last year), and Vizcaino.

Vizcaino is the only worthwhile part of this deal for the Braves. I feel like they may have been able to get just him if they traded Lowe, but I would've taken that in a heartbeat. Vizcaino was rated as the #3 prospect in the Yanks organization. He is projected to be an excellent top of the rotation pitcher in a couple years. Put him in a rotation with Jurrjens, Hanson, Teheran, and Minor and you have an unbelievable rotation if all of them live up to their potential and what scouts say about them. So, Vizcaino is a good piece to get but for Vazquez? I dunno about that. I was in favor of trading Lowe away for a bag of baseballs or enough money to cover McCann's Lasik surgery and then signing Javy to an extension. I was amped when I heard the Yanks were talking to us about pitching because I know they'd shown interest in Lowe before, and I didn't think they'd get Vazquez when they had already tried him before.

In my mind, Vizcaino is a good piece to have...but for Vazquez? Lowe should've been traded...not Vazquez. Melky means nothing because he will not perform. Dunn it's too early to tell, but he won't be anything fantastic anyways. So now we have a black hole in one of our outfield spots yet again and have a weaker pitching staff (trading Lowe would've made us a stronger pitching staff because he was statistically our worst last year). More fuel to my "Fire Wren" argument.

Vasquez is best remembered for giving up 2 home runs to Johnny Damon in game 7 of the 2004 ALCS the last time he pitched for the Yankees- why would they think 6 years would make him a better fit back in the AL East? Good for my Sox, that's what that trade was. Cabrera has a good track record against the Sox, so I'm glad to see him back in the NL.

This was a steal for the Yankees. If I was a Brave fan I'd be pretty upset.

Good for the Yankees but i think Melky will do better in the NL.

This is really going to help out the Yankees in 2010.

I have to agree that this is bad for the Braves. They wanted a centerfielder so they gave teh Yankees what they wanted to get one, but they really could have got a better one.

ya its a horrible trade......as a yankee fan i cant believe we got him.......the guy has won 10 games a season and pitched 200 innings in a season 10 years in a row.......i wonder if theres a single guy in baseball right now that can match that. he just had his best season. i love melky, i wish we could have kept him.....but he is what he is,,,....12 homers, 70 rbi, nice defense........its great for our team, but, i mean, you dont trade him for a guy who went 15-10 2.87. the prospect you got is supposed to be really good. but thats years away.