From Ken Rosenthal:
The Yankees are telling clubs that they are open to moving outfielder Melky Cabrera, who would be a perfect fit for the White Sox.
Cabrera trails Brett Gardner in the Yankees’ center-field competition. By trading him, the team could open at-bats for Nick Swisher, who was beaten out by Xavier Nady in right field but also plays center, left and first.
The Yankees have talked about trading either Nady or Swisher, but potential suitors might be more willing to part with young talent for Cabrera, who is 24 and four years away from free agency.
There are multiple ways in which this brief blurb is a total Logic Fail. Firstly, the Yankees could open at-bats for Swisher by…..giving him at-bats.It really is that simple. Is there some sort of rule written in the Yankees corporate bylaws that require them to play Melky? Every time Girardi feels the urge to use Melky, he can look at his lineup card and say, “Hey, Nick Swisher is available and is so much better than Melky that it is embarrassing that I was even considering the Melkman.” See? Problem solved. There are certainly reasons to trade Melky (out of options, no real place on this team), but this is not one of them.
More interestingly, I cannot imagine one baseball executive that would consider giving up any young talent for Melky, and certainly not more talent than they would give up for Nady or Swisher. The money and service time really makes no difference when we are discussing players of such disparate talent levels. Melky is bad at the plate and middling in the field. He may be able to get you an aging player with a big contract, but young talent is out of the question. Nady and Swisher, on the other hand, could likely fetch at least one legitimate prospect, a position player with some upside who could supplement a Yankees farm system weak in that regard. To compare them to Melky is an insult.
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The problem is that Melky is out of minor league options. If the Yankees prefer Gardner/Swisher/Nady over Melky, it makes a ton of sense to trade him now.
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Oh, I agree that he should be traded-just not for Ken’s reasons.
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Tell me you’re not pumped over Ajax… He’s probably going to hit, but did you notice in the outfield he has Gardner’s range and Melky’s arm… wow! This guy is legit… Gardner’s potential and Melky’s talent are dubious. IMO.
Want to see Ajax here in July, cause we’re going to be sick of Melky’s antics and Gardner’s .220 batting avg.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 25th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Yeah, I totally fell in love with A-Jax this spring. I hope I’m not wrong.
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Old Ranger Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I’ll second that but, I still want to see more!
Question; What is your opinion of Luis Nunez and Ramiro Pena? Which of the two would you want as a SS or as a utility guy?
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I’m pretty sure EJ is going to address those guys later today, so I am going to defer to him. I will say neither strikes me as a starter.
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Old Ranger Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
As of now…I agree! Just something to watch this year in the minors (I like Penas’ Switch Hitting), see if they improve or not.
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Melky is on his best behavior right now.I’d just as soon trade him and keep Cano focused on his season and away from Melky.
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Melky is redundant…with him, we have 5 OF, one to many.
If one of the corner guys go down, we can bring up one of the minor league guys; Ed Gonzalez, Shelly or A-jax.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I think they are going to wait on A-Jax until at least after the All-Star game.
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Old Ranger Reply:
March 26th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I should hope so, that’s why I put him last.
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