Javier Vazquez $#&%!^@ what to do with him

[CubFan]

12 team AL only 5x5 H2H keeper league. $310 in season salary cap. As everyone knows Vazquez has been a disaster so far this year. While he likely will pitch better he has shown no signs of turning it around and I dunno if it's worth keeping him. I've got Uehara coming off the DL and I think he has a decent chance of getting a few saves. I either drop Vazquez, Vargas or Zieglar.....or wait one more week to activate in hopes Javy can turn it around next week (but he does have 2 starts which could make for some ugly numbers for my ERA and WHIP). So, what to do?

[Captain Hook]

If you have no bench spots, I would kiss him goodbye....but would obviously prefer to reserve and wait.

Is there a die-hard Yankee fan in the league who can hope he comes back? You could offer to sell him pretty low which keeps him out of the FA pile.

[50 Desert Eagles]

Try and sell first....for something......I think I would wait atleast another week before dropping him and eating that $25 investment you got. Look for a Yankees fan in your league or a real Dumb@$$

[da_big_kid_94]

12 team AL only 5x5 H2H keeper league. $310 in season salary cap. As everyone knows Vazquez has been a disaster so far this year. While he likely will pitch better he has shown no signs of turning it around and I dunno if it's worth keeping him. I've got Uehara coming off the DL and I think he has a decent chance of getting a few saves. I either drop Vazquez, Vargas or Zieglar.....or wait one more week to activate in hopes Javy can turn it around next week (but he does have 2 starts which could make for some ugly numbers for my ERA and WHIP). So, what to do?

I think you need to learn the lyrics to an old Jim Reeves song ....how's THAT for esoterica?

[Todd Zola]

While I too believe in a wait and see approach, I am guessing the LAST person in your league that would want Javy is a Yankee fan.

I truly would look for your league's "numbers guy".

[viper]

What are the odds that Javier is in another uniform next season? I think a National League team is in his future. He is a free agent next year and the only offer he will get from the Yankees will be the door unless he totally turns things around.

[lawr]

well, z and i have him on our NFBC team and we benched him, as did the yankees this week.

and, it is easy to curse him or write him off, but my guess is you selected javy fairly high, or paid a little chunk for him inexpectation of some pretty good performance.

we nabbed him and jake peavy as picks six and seven in the NFBC, suggesting we expected, if nothing else, some decent whip and ERA and a couple of hundred whiffs. so, obviously, we are not thrilled with him yet.

but....

you owe it to yourself and javy to take a deep breath and try to recoup your investment and hopes for performance.

if you swap him, you will never get value. and, if you do swap him, and he kicks it into gear, you will kick yourself for the next hundred seasons should you live so long.

just bite it, and shuffle him in and out of the rotation, depending upon the matchup, and see if javy can get it together. i mean, he does have talent and he is on the yankees, and those are very good prescriptions.

but, other than that, i can quote chief dan george as old lodge skins in "little big man." "sometimes, the wind don't blow, and grass ain't green."

sometimes guys just have bad years. ask mark mcgwire or paul konerko.

if your team flops because you made good picks, but the guys simply did not deliver, well, no reason kicking yourself for that for the same combination could be just as deadly next year as they were last.

and, big kid, what jim reeves song? all i could think of is "until the next heartache falls"?

[CubFan]

lawr, unfortunately our league does not use a bench nor do we have reserve privileges. You either have them on your active roster, DL, or cut bait. So, my choices are quite limited. I'm currently floating his name out to possible trade partners but as you said I won't be getting "fair" value. With it being early in the season most owners are reluctant to trade unless it comes at a steep discount, i.e. they are getting the better end of the trade. So, maybe I'll improve my team through the time honored method of addition by subtraction.

[Kelly_Leak]

While I'm not suggesting this will happen - and Javy has struggled much more - I can recall many worried Johan Santana owners at the end of April in 2006...Santana ended up winning the Cy Young that year.

With no bench, I understand your worries. It just seems to me, to be too early to give up on Javy. Any trade will be pennies on the dollar and you know if you dump him someone else will probably scoop him right up.

[lawr]

that is a tough rule, but i do like it. i mean, it does make things realistic, and that every team has to struggle with a guy like javy (in the majors, i mean) at some point. and, you do have to make a tough decision then, a la barry zito joining the pen for a week.

i guess a lot depends upon your position in the standings. it is still early enough to overcome some ugly numbers (well, i personally hope and think it is).

if your team is struggling, you may as well hang, as tough as that can be. for, likely, there are not any potentially better avenues in the free agent pool (note the word potentially).

also, javy could be hiding an injury, and he could wind up on the dl, which would allow you to hide him, i believe?

and, i think back to my first season playing, when i copped bobby witt after a hot spring, and he stunk. and, i let him go, and a week later he was sent down. he came back, someone else claimed him, and witt came back up and was great. of course, i have stuck with good pitchers gone bad too long as well, but if they are money guys, i think you just have to let them go.

either way, you made a good and reasonable selection in javy, so try not to kick yourself, no matter what you do.

[CubFan]

I think I was in denial when I looked at how he stunk it up the last time he pitched with the Yankees....and he was younger then. I'm convinced he belongs in the NL and destined for poor numbers in the AL. Since we are playing H2H this year for the first time at least his numbers are not cummulative.....they only hurt you once a week, but it's the gift that keeps on giving that can be potentially lethal.

[Tampa Bob]

I also live in a "no bench" world. Nobody is going to trade for him. Would you? He's Pitching Death. So it's either live with him and hope (Hope is a good thing) or cut him. Doesn't matter what you paid for him at this point - they're all the same.

BUT, since you DID pay so much for him AND he plays for the Yankees who I hear are supposed to be good this year, you might give him some more rope. Perhaps he figures something out. Perhaps the Yankees skip a couple of starts and work out his kinks.

I'd seriously think of waiting until early June and see what hapopens. At that point you'll still have 4 months to clean up the mess.

[AllstonRockCity]

All this reminds me of what Chien-Ming Wang did to us in our AL-only last year (also no bench). We were in the same position, can't cut him, can't reserve him, can't trade him. Just had to take the beatings. A DL stint is sometimes the best thing you can hope for.

Its a keeper league right? You can't win every year and unfortunately, sometimes all it takes is one piece of the puzzle to ruin the whole season. We realized in May last year that there was no way we could overcome Wang's start, so we played for this year. We are currently in 2nd place and feeling quite good about our chances. Sometimes you need to take the long view, the real long view.

Now, if you're in contention despite these poundings, you are in a much tougher spot than we were. Wang made it easy for us to 'play for next year'. I guess the answer to your question is, there is nothing you can do. you just gotta take it. or play for next year.

[CubFan]

Contention this year.....yes but with it being a weekly H2H league things are still sorting themselves out. Fortunately Vazquez's horrendous numbers are not cumulative. But, as in Animal House I don't want to be in the position of saying "Thank you sir may I have another?" A DL stint would be the best option but I fear it will take Javy getting pounded twice this coming week (he's a 2 start pitcher) for that to happen. Typically pitchers of his caliber who get pounded like he has been and have a drop off in velocity (which I don't know if he has) are hiding an injury. If I cut bait someone will claim him but I'd be willing to bet that he'll go for less than $10.....not that it should matter to me. Right now he has little to no trade value and he has the potential to ruin the upcoming week for me.

[Todd Zola]

His velocity is down 2 MPH according to fangraphs, but since his BB9 is way up, it appears more than just losing a few feet on his heater, it is more location.

There is talk of a mechanical issue that is affecting both mph and location. He has had the weekend to work that out with bullpen sessions. And with Pettitte's injury, Javy is now pushed to Tuesday but still has 2 starts.

[viper]

I think his issues are in the 6 inches between his ears.

[CubFan]

I held on to him for one more week. If he implodes I'll hunt you all down

[da_big_kid_94]

I held on to him for one more week. If he implodes I'll hunt you all down

Not all of us, bubeleh ...make sure you get the guy in the mirror first.

[lawr]

proving i would not ask anyone to do something i would not be willing to do (within reason) z and i activated javy in the nfbc this week, too.

so, if you die, so do we. we need him, i think, if we are going to compete.

[CubFan]

I held on to him for one more week. If he implodes I'll hunt you all down

Not all of us, bubeleh ...make sure you get the guy in the mirror first.

For sure that guy won't get off lightly.

[Captain Hook]

Javy will have one of his better outings tonight - they got rained out in Detroit

[Captain Hook]

Well not a W for Javy, but certainly one of if not the best outing of the year for him....so good for those of you who played him....hopefully for you he uses this to right the ship