The Yankees can only hope this won’t end in another painful Vaz-ectomy.
Five years after getting booed out of The Bronx, after surrendering one of the most infamous home runs in franchise history, Javier Vazquez returned to the Yankees yesterday in a trade that sent Melky Cabrera to the Braves.
As part of the five-player swap with Atlanta, the Yankees also received lefty reliever Boone Logan and surrendered minor league pitchers Michael Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino.
The 33-year-old Vazquez went 15-10 with a career-best 2.87 ERA for the Braves last season and finished fourth in the NL Cy Young award voting, but will always be remembered by many Yankees fans for his second-half collapse in 2004 that culminated with allowing a grand slam to Johnny Damon in Game 7 of the ALCS.
It all but cemented the biggest October choke in baseball history, as the Red Sox rallied from a three-game deficit to win the pennant. But Vazquez, who was shipped to Arizona as part of the Randy Johnson trade following that season, has reinvented himself since.
A Braves official said Vazquez’s haunted past with the Yankees should be considered in projecting how he might perform next season, but also said the right-hander has matured since his 2004 stint.
“He’s also got three guys ahead of him,” the Braves official said, referring to CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte. “I know for a fact it’s a lot easier to operate that way. I just think he’s a good fit on that staff as the fourth or fifth guy.”
With Cabrera gone, the Yankees have begun exploring options for left field and may look to sign utilityman Mark DeRosa to handle that position, which, at least for the moment, appears to belong to Brett Gardner. Johnny Damon remains a long shot to return because of his price tag.
Vazquez became expendable in Atlanta because of a deep rotation and the fact he is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $11.5 million next season.
After getting selected to the All-Star game in 2004 with the Yankees, Vazquez vanished over the final 2 1/2 months, posting a 6.94 ERA over that stretch. Overall, he finished 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA.
After flopping in relief in Game 3 at Fenway Park, he entered Game 7 of the ALCS as a reliever with the Yankees trailing 2-0 and one out in the second inning. One pitch later, it was 6-0 and the Yankees were finished.
“I didn’t feel as well in the [season’s] second half as I did in the first half,” Vazquez said, mentioning a sore shoulder that he delayed addressing in the summer of 2004. “It was really the only time in my career that I felt my arm wasn’t where it was supposed to be.”
A friend of Vazquez’s told The Post the right-hander never really felt embraced by the Yankees.
“He wasn’t comfortable with Joe Torre,” the friend said. “With Torre, you are either one of his guys or not one of his guys. Javy wasn’t one of his guys.”
GM Brian Cashman said the fact Vazquez struggled in his previous stint with the Yankees isn’t a concern.
“The second half of ’04, which was poor cannot erase the long success [Vazquez] has had as a major league pitcher,” Cashman said. “He is one of the better pitchers in the game.”
The final spot in the Yankees’ rotation may not be resolved until spring training. Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves and Sergio Mitre are in that mix, according to Cashman.
“We’ll have a very difficult decision to make,” Cashman said. “What we’ve done now is solidified our staff and made it stronger and deeper.”
mpuma@nypost.com