I’m not saying Melky is a Brett/Bernie caliber player. He isn’t. But people way-undervalue him, I think.

I don’t know why he declined for 2 years, but I don’t think 2 bad seasons erase the potential he has. Maybe he was trying to hit homers or something. Knoblauch was a fantastic hitter, a slap hitter who ran well and was on base all the time. Then someone convinced him he had to hit for more power and pull the ball, and his career went steadily south.

Melky reminds me of a sort of Tony Gwynn-lite. Stocky guy, not much power, not alot of bat speed. But can handle the bat, makes contact alot. If he just tried to do that well – put the bat on the ball and hit line drives, he’d be a very valuable ballplayer. The fact that he can switch hit is also a bonus.

The fact that they have Wang in the bullpen means they have no confidence in him right now.

I really wonder if we’re going to see the 19 game winner Chen Ming Wang again this season. He obviously needs a long rehab in order to get his velocity back and to figure out why his sinker isn’t sinking. A sinkerballer with a mediocre slider and a 92 mph flat, non-sinking sinker is not going to be effective.

I’ve said this before, and nobody agrees, but I don’t see why you don’t just keep both of them on the MLB roster. Figure out a schedule for Hughes where he ends up getting the number of starts and innings you need for his longterm plan, and then use Wang to supplement that. Maybe Hughes misses his regular rotation spot every three or four trips through the rotation, and you give that slot to Wang. Wang pitches long relief. Wang mops up. Wang pitches the second game of a double header, Wang moves into the rotation when Pettitte or Burnett or Chamberlain goes on the DL. It’s likely that they’re going to have some injury issues with starting pitchers, so why not have 6 of them, and just be creative.

Someone will say “no, Wang and Hughes both need ‘their innings’ so one of them must go to the minors.” I disagree. I say you have your best pitchers on the MLB roster and you find ways to use them.

Girardi probably wouldn’t go along with this, because modern managers seem mesmerized with the defined pitching roles thing, and it just cramps their brains to consider doing it any other way.

I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the team to have either Phil Hughes or Chen Ming Wang spending time in the minors. Both are young, both have shown they can be very good pitchers. They need to be in the majors, getting major league hitters out in some role. If we want effective pitchers in the playoffs, we don’t want these guys pitching in AAA.

And it’s not about Santana >Hughes, Melky. It’s not about the face value. It’s about how the organization does things. I, for one, am glad we stuck with our young arms despite the fact that we didn’t make the playoffs. It represents a philosophical shift in the organization that I support.

The final offer by Bill Smith was Hughes/Melky/A-prospect/A-Prospect or Wang/IPK/Melky/B-prospect. That’s according to Brian Cashman, who was on the other line of the phone. That’s also about double what the Twins got from the Mets.

The Twins didn’t want to trade Santana in the AL, unless they got a boatload back.

I will do the trade now. Santana is better than CC regarding to stats of ERA, K, WHIP. If the Yankees made that trade, Burn would not be here. I cant image the Yanks with Santana, CC and Joba.

I also go back to the fact that Hughes is 2 years younger. When Buchholz was this age, he was pitching in AA.