Javier Vazquez Returning to Yankees in Five-Player Deal

The Yankees have made a deal to shore up their pitching staff, the team confirmed.

The defending world champions have traded Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino for starting pitcher Javier Vazquez and relief pitcher Boone Logan. Coincidentally, Vazquez, 33, and Logan were traded together last offseason as well -- from the White Sox to the Braves.

SI.com first reported the trade Tuesday morning.

This will be Vazquez's second stint with the Yankees, as he went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA in 2004 for them. He was subsequently shipped to the Diamondbacks for Randy Johnson. Throughout Vazquez's career he's been a considerably better pitcher in the National League (his ERA is a half run better when pitching for an NL club). The Yankees are likely hoping he can build upon easily the best year of his career, even if it was in the NL.

In 32 starts for the Braves in 2009, Vaquez went 15-10 with a sparkling -- and career best -- 2.87 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He struck out 238 hitters in 219 1/3 innings. His rates of hits allowed, home runs allowed and walks allowed were all the lowest of his career, just as his 9.8 K/9 was the highest.

Cabrera's departure from the Yankees likely means there will be room for them to retain Johnny Damon. With the signing of Nick Johnson late last week, many thought that wouldn't be possible.

Cabrera fills a definite need for the Braves, as he'll join Nate McLouth as the only sure-thing outfielders for the Braves. They do have Matt Diaz, but he's more of a platoon player. Expect uber-prospect Jason Heyward to be in the mix as well. Cabrera, a 25-year-old switch-hitter, had a .752 OPS with 13 home runs and 68 RBI for the world champion Yankees last season. He should see a spike in production with the league switch. Plus, he's still improving as a young big-league player.

Logan, 25, will join the Yankees' bullpen. He's left-handed, but has yet to show the kind of consistency his teams would have liked to see. In the past three seasons, he's appeared in 143 games and has a 5.38 ERA.

Dunn, 24, heads to the Braves to join their bullpen. He had a 3.38 ERA in 38 minor league appearances last season and joined the Yankees for a rather uninspiring stint in September (6.75 ERA in four innings).

Vizcaino, 19, is a fireball-throwing prospect who struck out 52 hitters in 42 1/3 innings in Class-A last season, which goes nicely with his 2.13 ERA. He's a long way from the bigs, but has definite upside for the Braves down the road.

There are obvious question marks on both sides of this trade. Can Cabrera become an above average hitter in the NL? His highest OPS+ thus far in his career has been 99 (this past season). Vazquez has always been much worse in the AL and was not very good for the Yankees last time around. Why will this time be different?

Regardless, the deal makes sense for both teams and it's possible each team improved.

The Yankees desperately needed at least one more bona fide starting pitcher behind their trio of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte. Now they can leave either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen (or both, conceivably). They can deal with the loss of Cabrera in the outfield due to the addition of Curtis Granderson and it's possible they'll go back after Damon to play left field. They could always open the wallet to sign Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, too.

The Braves have now cleared their extra starter and have a really solid five-man rotation: Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson and Kenshin Kawakami. They really needed to add outfield help, if not two new outfielders, so Cabrera's addition suffices.