Vazquez gives them back a high end starter who can replace Halladay in their rotation right now and perform somewhere between “well” and “awesome”. He’s pitched 1 year for the Yankees and 3 for the White Sox, he was disappointing with the Yankees but not terrible. He had an ERA+ of 92, making him 8 percent below average, and he had the worst K rate of his career that year. With the White Sox, he had two pedestrian years— in possibly the best hitters park the AL— and a fantastic year (ERA+ of 127), while in all thre maintaining a K/9 rate right at 1.

But again, I’m not viewing Vazquez as the key to the deal. We’d be giving them Medlin, their choice of one of our best young live arms, another player, AND Vazquez. So they’d get 3 solid young players, two of them arms; they’d save 4 million next year on the difference between Vazquez’s and Halladay’s contracts; they still get a high-end SP who can pitch for them at the front of the rotation, so they don’t have to replace Halladay with a re-tread or a noobie.

I don’t know whether Toronto would make the deal; but I think its better than what most teams can offer them this year. Boston’s not going to give up Buchholz or Lester, or Bowden or Tazawa, for a 1 year rental. They have more holes opening in their rotation after next year that they need to save those guys for. Atlanta does not. Halladay can nix any deal to a non-contender as a 5/10 guy, full veto power, and wants to go somewhere he can win, immediately. Realistically, I think there are 10 teams that fit that bill for next year: Dodgers, Rockies, Giants, Braves, Phillies, Marlins, Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Cardinals. (I don’t think any other team in the central is really well positioned to be considered a higer percentage challenger for the title. Maybe the Diamondbacks out west but they seem like they still have holes on the field and in the lineup). Giants don’t need another front-line SP. And of those other 9 teams, I think the Braves can put together the best package, without hurting themselves in the long term, because they are locked in to known costs on most of their rotation for the next several years and have a bevvy of young comers to fill in behind. They can afford to spend a couple of them to get one of the best 5 SPs in the game on a reasonable $15 mil 1 year deal, especially one who will give them back 2 draft picks as compensation (or more if they wind up falling out next year and need to move him).

At least, that’s my thinking on the move. They still need to shore up the offense, mainly by getting rid of Garrett Anderson and Francoeur, resigning or replacing Adam LaRoche, keeping McCann and Chipper fresh, making the bench a bit better by getting rid of Norton and getting a full year out of Infante. But I think all these things are do-able, that we match up best to get Halladay, and that we could have an amazing, special year.