In a fit of late-season, late-inning desperation, it was in these very pale blue pages that I suggested White Sox reliever Boone Logan be removed from the bullpen and returned to duty as a lookout at a meth lab. Behold now as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman confirms the scary power of CSTB:
Javier Vazquez is coming to Atlanta, and as long as everything goes well with his physical, he’ll serve as the first piece to the Braves’ rotation-reconstruction process.
The Braves and White Sox are finalizing a six-player trade that would bring right-hander Vazquez and left-handed reliever Boone Logan to Atlanta.
According to a Major League source, Vazquez will travel to Atlanta on Wednesday for a physical. If all goes well, both teams could choose to announce this deal as early as Wednesday afternoon.
The Braves provided a list of five players from which the White Sox could choose four. Chicago is believed to have the most interest in shortstop Brent Lillibridge and Minor League catcher Tyler Flowers, who was one of the most impressive offensive weapons in this year’s Arizona Fall League.
Lillibridge, characterized as “speedy” by the Tribune’s Mark Gonzales and “whatever” by readers of statistics, stole a less than impressive 2 bases last year for 80 plate appearances in a .200 season. Happier is the naming of minor league catcher Tyler Flowers, whose eventual appearance on the Sox would be well-anticipated thanks to his 20 games with the Mesa Solar Sox for 23 RBI, 12 HR, a .387 average and innumerable opportunities to run photos of Wayland Flowers and Madam.
Other persistent Chisox trade rumors include Bobby Jenks to the Mets pen and RF Jermaine Dye to the Reds for RHP Homer Bailey as an overly generous thank-you note for renting Junior last year. I’d not want to see Bobby go, but the more I think about it, he’s not throwing it past them like he once did. He might be at his peak value and a big-market team could be where he belongs. And while I’d definitely rather deal Konerko than Dye and spare myself the the grumbling watching him flirt with .220 for months, the gap left by Javy needs to be addressed somehow.