Trade Reactions To The Jose Veras For Danry Vasquez And PTBNL Deal

A longer post is coming up analyzing the Jose Veras for Danry Vasquez trade with Detroit.  In the meantime, here are some links to instant reactions to the trade from across the web.  The early consensus seems to be that it was a win-win for both sides.  Detroit buttresses their bullpen without giving up one of their top two prospects.  For the Astros, Veras was a luxury and Vasquez is a high upside young player that fits with the Astros rebuild.

My initial reaction is that I really like what Houston did here.  The Astros got good value for a reliever who was non-tendered this past offseason. Vasquez is young, has pedigree, and good offensive tools.  The failure rate for this type of prospect is high, but, unlike a lot of the tooled up Latin America Bonus Babies, Vasquez has shown good plate discipline and an outstanding contact rate so far in his young career.  He also fits an organizational need for corner outfielders.

INSTANT REACTION ACROSS THE WEB

Dave Cameron likes the deals for both sides:

Veras didn’t come free, of course. They parted with toolsy outfield prospect Danry Vasquez, who Marc Hulet rated as Detroit’s #8 prospect heading into the season, but he’s a 19-year-old in low-A ball who is more potential than performance. It’s certainly possible that Vasquez eventually develops into something valuable, but he’s nowhere close to the big leagues, and he’s the kind of prospect that flames out more often than not...

And, of course, the Astros need a solid relief pitcher less than any other team in the sport, so flipping an asset for a young player with upside is exactly the type of move they should be making. Houston keeps doing what they’ve been doing, turning short term pieces into longer term upside. This move keeps the Astros headed in the right direction, but also gives the Tigers a bullpen upgrade at a reasonable price. Looks like a win-win to me.

John Sickels agrees that the trade makes sense for both sides:

Vasquez is a 6-3, 180 pound left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower, born January 8, 1994. I mentioned the low strikeout rate, and that stat fits well with scouting reports about his contact hitting skills. He has a compact swing, above-average bat speed, and can hit the ball to all fields. He hasn't shown much home run power to this point, but more may come as he matures physically. Although he doesn't draw a huge number of walks, he has a decent eye and doesn't chase many pitches outside the zone...

I think the trade makes sense for both Houston and Detroit. Veras has had a good season, but he's 32 years old and won't be part of the next good Astros team. Vasquez isn't a spectacular prospect at his point, but he has some positive markers in his profile and is very young. The Tigers are in win-now mode, so cashing him in for immediate relief help is logical. Their farm system is relatively thin, and Vasquez was one of their key assets.

ESPN's Keith Law thinks the Astros got good value for Veras ($):

Any time you can flip a fungible reliever for a prospect, even a fringy one, it's a good day for a rebuilding club like Houston -- even more so since they picked Veras up off the scrap heap, cleaned him up a bit, and sold him as soon as he had that new closer smell.

Law also writes that the player-to-be-named-later is a "good flier" on par with Vasquez.  If true, that would make this an even better deal. 

Astros County likes this move despite the negative effect of losing Veras on the Astros' horrific bullpen:

Obviously, this weakens an already-weak bullpen, but...the Astros are adding another valuable piece, just at the Low-A level. Here's hoping the Astros slide Jose Cisnero into the 9th inning or, you know, sign Brian Wilson.

But let's put it this way: In 2010 the Tigers signed Vasquez as an international free agent to a $1.2m signing bonus. The Astros signed Veras to a $1.85m contract for 2013, of which they have paid him approximately $1.19m. So the Astros basically swapped a 32-year old reliever for one of the Tigers' top prospects. It may be 2016 before we see him, but this is exactly why you sign guys like Jose Veras.

Baseball America profiles the players involved and adds that Veras will take some of the pressure off the rest of Detroit's relief corps:

Veras joins a Tigers late-innings corps that includes veteran Joaquin Benoit and big league sophomre Drew Smyly. His acquisition takes some of the pressure off electric-armed, 22-year-old rookie Bruce Rondon, who has logged an 11-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12 appearances since his June 29 recall.

Blessyouboys, the Tiger's SBNation fansite, examines the effect that losing Vasquez will have on Detroit's farm system:

I can understand the thought process behind the Vasquez move. The Tigers have a $150 million payroll. It's clear they need bullpen help in order to win the World Series, which is the ultimate goal. While I like Danry as a prospect, I understand the need to "give up something to get something". At the end of the day, your farm system is supposed to be used as currency. It can be used to provide players to your major league team via trade or the players themselves panning out. In the last few years, Dombrowski has shown a willingness to part with top prospects in order to provide benefit to the major league team. A talented prospect like Vasquez may be a bit of an overpay in a vacuum; however, it's hard to get mad at the Tigers when they want to push all of their chips to the middle of the table with the team's core in its prime.

If you'd like more information on Danry Vasquez, here is what I wrote about him a few weeks ago in the prospect countdown.

Sports Illustrated thinks the deal makes sense for both sides, although they don't seem particularly high on Vasquez:

The cost was 19-year-old Venezuelan left-fielder Danry Vasquez, who was the team’s fourth-best prospect coming into the season, according to Baseball Prospectus, and a player to be named later. Vasquez is a lottery ticket whose payoff depends largely on his bat. Though tall and lanky, he’s not fast and he doesn’t have a strong arm. He is a left-fielder and will have to hit like one, but hasn’t thus far, batting .281/.330/.390 in a repeat of the in the Class-A Midwest League with just five home runs in 420 plate appearances. Vasquez won’t be 20 until January and thus has a ton of development time left and is well-regarded, but the Tigers are a defending pennant winner trying to win a championship. It’s hard to criticize this trade from their side given how perfectly Veras fits their needs and that he has a cheap, $3.25 million option for next year with a tiny $150,000 buyout, nor from the Astros side given that Veras is a 32-year-old first-time closer who wasn’t going to be a part of the next winning Astros team.