Braves say Vazquez will be ‘solid piece of pitching staff’

The Braves say they had their sights on Javier Vazquez for years, but for a moment Thursday they confused him with another Javy from Puerto Rico.

“Javy Lopez,” general manager Frank Wren said as he introduced Vazquez at a news conference, two days after the Braves agreed to a six-player trade with the Chicago White Sox.

Wren realized immediately what he’d said and corrected himself and put an arm around Vazquez as they both laughed with manager Bobby Cox, seated on the other side of the Braves’ newest veteran starting pitcher.

Wren quickly explained the faux pas by saying he and Vazquez were talking moments earlier about Lopez, the retired Braves catcher who’s a friend of Vazquez’s from the same hometown of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Not that Vazquez needed any apology or explanation. The workhorse right-hander appeared so happy and relieved to be in Atlanta that nothing was going to spoil his first official day as a Brave.

“Very excited to be an Atlanta Brave,” said Vazquez, 32, who has won at least 10 games in nine consecutive seasons, pitched at least 200 innings in eight of those seasons and recorded at least 190 strikeouts in six.

He has a 127-129 record and 4.32 ERA in 11 seasons, seven with Montreal.

“They’ve been an elite organization ever since I’ve known of the Braves,” Vazquez said. “Playing against them, they always have good teams, always play the game right, and I’ve always heard good things about Mr. Cox.”

Vazquez slipped to 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA in 2008 after going 15-8 with a 3.74 ERA in 2007. He was criticized publicly late in the season by manager Ozzie Guillen, who said Vazquez wasn’t a big-game pitcher.

He went 0-4 with a 13.22 ERA in his final four starts.

Vazquez measured his comments Thursday when asked whether it was good to get away from a tense relationship with Guillen.

“The negativity is never good,” Vazquez said. “I’ve always been a big believer in being positive, especially in professional [baseball]. You’ve got a lot of negative things going on, so you always try to be positive.

“I try to be positive all the time. I’m glad to be here in Atlanta.”

Asked again about Guillen, Vazquez said softly, “I don’t talk [bad] about anybody. Only thing I’m going to say is, it’s good to get away from the negativity and start fresh.”

The Braves got Vazquez and left-handed reliever Boone Logan for infielder Brent Lillibridge, power-hitting catching prospect Tyler Flowers, minor league third baseman Jon Gil- more and young left-handed prospect Santos Rodriguez.

“I consider Javy an elite pitcher,” said Cox, who got to know Vazquez on an all-star trip to Japan after the 2000 season. “His stuff’s way above average, he’s a good athlete —- a National League guy, really. He holds runners extremely well at first base —- you can’t steal on him —- and he can handle the bat.”

The Braves entered the offseason determined to acquire two veteran starters after injuries to veterans last season. Wren said the search for a power-hitting outfield bat might not be resolved until spring training or even during the season.

The Braves lost out on 22-year-old Japanese pitching prospect Junichi Tazawa, who finalized a deal with Boston after spurning offers from Atlanta and others.

“He gives us another really solid piece of our pitching staff,” Wren said of Vazquez, under contract for $11.5 million each of the next two seasons. “As we’ve stated all along, rebuilding our pitching staff was one of our primary focuses, and he gives us one of those key ingredients to do that.”

The Braves have a handful of highly rated pitching prospects they expect to start filtering into the big-league club in the next few years, led by prospect Tommy Hanson, who could compete for a rotation spot in 2009.

“We are on the edge of a new generation of pitchers coming through our organization,” Wren said. “We think we have some really top-flight young starting pitchers, and we need some veteran guys who can give us innings and can show them the way.”

Backup catcher coming

The Braves expect to sign veteran catcher Dave Ross to a two-year contract to back up Brian McCann. Ross, 31, is adept at throwing out baserunners and hit 38 homers in 558 at-bats during the 2006-07 seasons for Cincinnati, 25 of those in the Reds’ small ballpark. Ross had a .369 on-base percentage in 2008 while batting .225 with three homers with Cincinnati and Boston.