Another Vazquez Gone

Jorge Vazquez was released today, as the team reportedly Steve Pearce at 1B for the AAA Yankees. Jorge will turn 30 in less than two weeks, and to go along with his poor OBP last season in AAA, I can't say he'll be missed. The fact that the team didn't trade Vazquez before releasing him tells me quite a bit about Jorge. Meaning he's not somebody that any Yankee fan should be shedding a tear over.

In other minor news, neither Jayson Nix nor Dewayne Wise was claimed, meaning the Yankees can send both men down to AAA. But the fact is, the AAA Yankees just have too much going on, meaning something's got to give here.

JoVa growing tired of Triple-A

By Mike Axisa at River Avenue Blues

Life as a 30-year-old Triple-A slugger can be tough, especially when you’re with the Yankees and there’s no clear path to the big leagues. That’s the life of Jorge Vazquez, who hit .262/.314/.516 with 32 homers in Triple-A last year but has received close to zero consideration for the DH spot or even a bench job in the Bronx. Unsurprisingly, he’s getting kinda fed up and looking for a change.

“If they don’t give him an opportunity this year, he wants them to trade him, or to go to [play] baseball in the East,” said the president of JoVa’s former Mexican League team recently (via MLBTR). “He doesn’t want to continue on in Triple-A anymore, not just with the Yankees, but with any other organization as well.”

We’ve heard rumors of Vazquez pursuing opportunities in Japan before, and yet he’s in camp with the Yankees right now. The guy has serious power but he’s a total hacker, striking out 314 times (28.6%) and unintentionally walking just 47 times (4.3%) since signing with New York midway through the 2009 season. He gets himself out too much and that power won’t show up consistently against big league hurlers because of it. I understand being frustrated, but if he wants to go, the Yankees shouldn’t stand in his way.