Is Javier Vazquez Really A Top-15 Starting Pitcher?
Picture this. A starting pitcher posts a 2.87 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP, strikes out 238 batters in 219 1/3 innings and allows a .226 average to opposing hitters, then before the 2010 season gets traded to the defending world champions. Pretty good, right? So why in the wide, wide world of sports does newly minted New York Yankees hurler Javier Vazquez give me the howling fantods this year? As a group at ESPN Fantasy, we rate Vazquez the 14th-best starting pitcher you can draft this spring. At MockDraftCentral.com, his average draft position has him going at the top of the seventh round, 61st overall, the 12th starter selected. And to all this Vazquez love, I say: You’re a year too late. Now, I’m not going to proclaim that Vazquez’s one year in Atlanta was a fluke. He’s a good pitcher. His career ERA over 12 seasons is a respectable 4.19, his WHIP a better-than-decent 1.24, and he’s fanned 8.14 hitters per nine innings, which means generally speaking his strikeouts are legit. In fact, at thi
