But why in the world would we trade someone that is uber-dependable and a K machine and take a chance on someone who has had TJ surgery and could snap a ligament again?

OK, I haven’t waded into many of the 100+ comment posts on trading Vasquez, but since we’re starting fresh here, can someone explain to me why trading a top-flight starter who’s under contract for a reasonable price in 2010 makes any sense at all?

Anybody going to the Shop With the Braves thing tomorrow to meet Huddy?

He hasn’t been “good” or even “very good”, he’s been great. Likewise, he hasn’t been “a positive” or merely “valuable”, he has been our most valuable player. Trading him to make room for a question mark is playing with fire.

Besides, what will we trade him for? Name an equivalent bat that’s likely available from a team that would actually want Javy and I’ll give you a cookie if we ever meet. And for those recommending we trade him for prospects and then flip those for something we could use now and in the future (or the delayed three-team deal, as I like to think of it) need to tell me what the sense of trading for him in the first place was.

First of all, he’s having a great year. And if you look at career statistics, you’ll see he’ll have a great year, then a bad one, then a good one, then a bad one, and so on…

We could get much more than we sent the White Sox last winter and could get an impact bat or some nice prospects in return.

If Huddy comes back, and is good and healthy, we should deal Javy.

In the end the real problem here is Kenshin Kawakami. If we hadn’t wasted $8million a year on him we wouldn’t be in this predicament. Wren made off season mistakes and didn’t plan at all for where we would be and what we might need to do in the middle of the season around the trading deadline. Look at it this way: We don’t sign Glavine, we bring Hanson up to start the year, We Don’t sign Kawakami and we use JoJo/Medlin until Hudson is ready to come back. Well, we’re right where we are right now except we have $8 million dollars in salary flexibility that we could take on. Instead now, the only way we could take on payroll would be to trade Vazquez because of his approx. $11 million salary. It’s a mistake that will cost us for the next two years. Instead of next year having a rotation that is Hanson, Jurrjens, Vasquez, Lowe and Hudson (the best rotation in the majors if all healthy) we have to take one of those really reliable pitchers out and replace it with Kawakami. Braves management has never been the type to buy out a contract and I really don’t think anybody is going to take Kawakami off waivers and take on his salary for two more years. Is there another way to look at this? KK’s salary is a lot to give a guy in middle relief…

Honestly i think the most logical thing to do about this is let Hudson prove he belongs in the rotation before we dismantle the strongest part of our ball club. There are obviously two outcomes if we trade him:
Hudson comes back and is great, replacing the dealt Javy and the braves end up with solid prospects and Wren looks like a genius.
OR
Hudson come back and sucks and we deal Javy, we get prospects but lose the strongest part of our rotation.

And the only bad outcome of us holding to him is not “cashing out” on him while his value is high, although even if he regeresses back to his career average he is still a solid pitcher.

and to the guy who suggested we get vitters from the cubs, Isnt he a 1st baseman? We already have freeman so I dont know why we would deal for him as well.

Even if we can’t really get that much for him.

Stick Hudson in the bullpen for the time being and trade Gonzo or Soriano. I think Hudson is a gamer & would do what he had to in order to help the Braves win.

Javy’s value continues to rise and a lot of you are asking what would we get in return for him? My answer: Alfonso Soriano who isn’t exactly performing to expectations this year & therefore, not quite as valuable as Vasquez…in my opinion. I’m not sure the Cubs would make that deal, but it is food for thought. We could also see if the Fish are interested in dealing Cody Ross. The question is, do you really wanna pull the trigger with a division rival??

Josh Hamilton??

He looks like he’s got potential.

One of my favorite players in the game right now.

Oh. Can someone explain to me what the whole deal is with Escobar?

I don’t know if its been said yet since I didn’t read every comment thoroughly, but one hurdle to trading Vazquez is that he’s going to have to go to a contender. No non-contending team is going to trade for him, give up players and pay his salary. Then you have to filter out the Mets and Phillies, and the NL and AL West teams because of the NTC which I’m POSITIVE he won’t waive.

So that leaves us with these teams that we can send him to:
Boston Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
Detroit Tigers
Chicago Sox
Minnesota Twins
Milwaukee Brewers
St. Louis Cards
Cincy Reds
Chicago Cubs
Houston Astros

Immediately you can cross the White Sox and Yankees off the list, because they’re not going to take him back. The Twins are cash strapped, so they’re off. Now on to my conjecture: the Red Sox, Cubs, and Reds are looking for hitters (Boston is flush with pitching while the latter two’s offense is terrible), so they’re out. Of the remaining teams, I really don’t see the Rays making a big move; they’ll go get a bullpen arm. That leaves these teams:

Blue Jays
Tigers
Brewers
Cards
Astros

Blue Jays: I think they’re an interesting case, but its known that they’re trying to shed money to sign Halladay. Not a problem cause JV comes off the books in ‘10, but they’ll probably want us to take Rios or Wells off their hands. No doing for me, unless they’re willing to give up Aaron Hill, which is laughable at best. Besides Hill, there’s no one compelling on the Jays who makes me want to trade JV to them.

Tigers: Looking at their offense, I would suspect they would want a bat. But man I would love me some Curtis Granderson. I have strong doubts about the Tigers willingness to deal him, as they don’t have a surplus of OFers, so I’ll chalk that up as a pipe dream. But I would trade JV for Granderson straight up. No one else interests me besides the usual candidate who are not going to be moved (Cabrera, Verlander, etc).

Brewers: Probably the top candidate. Are the Brew Crew happy enough with their offense to trade Fielder for JV and Kotchman? Dunno, but I doubt it. Braun’s not going anywhere. They have a couple of inticing prospects, including Alceides Escobar and Mat Gamel. Corey Hart with one of those, maybe? If we get Escobar, we might be able to trade OUR Escobar for some different type of help (if Alceides is ML ready). Lots of possiblities here.

Cardinals: Probably the second best fit for JV, and I think they have the motivation to do it (and a reported payroll flexibility). They might go for another bat to add, especially in the OF with Ludwick and Ankiel struggling, however.

Astros: Are they crazy enough to do it? Probably. Normally I would dismiss them but their moves in the past won’t discount it. Unfortunately they don’t really have anything compelling to give up.

So that’s that. I think the Brew Crew is the prime trade candidate, and depending on how desperate they are for more SPers and how convinced they are that JV could be their answer (not Cliff Lee), we could get a good bounty from them.