Open Thread: Maybe the Mets want Melky too (and a Yanks’ roster move)
ByI’m going to toss this one up now as an Open Thread to carry you through until the night game. Stunningly enough, Omar Minaya just traded Ryan Church to the Braves for out machine Jeff Francoeur. (Hat tip to our very own Mike Axisa at MLBTR.) If the Mets want someone with a career 89 OPS+ to roam the outfield and make outs for them, maybe the Yanks can offer them Melky. What a weird and dumb trade for Minaya to make.
Anyway, word out of Anaheim, as we already know, is that Mark Melancon is there. The Yanks have yet to make a corresponding roster move. We’ll be back later. Play nice.
Update: The Yankees have announced that Jonathan Albaladejo has been optioned to AAA. They weren’t going to send off Brett Tomko yet because they need fresh arms tonight. I guess they don’t plan on stretching out Hughes or Aceves as I suggested last night.




Melky for Beltran?
Fuck that, Kevin Thompson or no deal!
Ha and the Mets sent the Braves cash? wow
Nah, that was corrected, it’s the other way around.
oh alright. still a bad trade
Melky is better then anyone the Muts are putting in the outfield these days.
I LMAO when I saw this trade reported on Sportscenter.
Omar strikes again!
I saw your movie today, freaking funny as hell.
Jesus Montero went 1st to 3rd on a double, but I’m not sure how he reached 1st.
And now Montero’s scored =D
I can’t wait to see Monstero in pinstripes.
Rebecca will be at that game and will have the tickets 1 year ahead of time
looks like it was a walk.
Driving out to Norwich Saturday and Sunday to see the monster with a buddy of mine. We’ve got seats directly behind home plate. Anyone who’s going to be there let me know!
1st to 3rd on a double is no accomplishment.
In fact… there’s really nothing else you could do that’s worse..
Albaladejo sent down.
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....at-angels/
Tomko must have naked pictures of Cashman. Alba will be up again real soon.
You know $man’s got pics of Tomko’s wife!!!
damn just realized mark coleman is fighting tomorrow..
Any UFCers here?
Lesner fighting Mir tomorrow also?
yepp, their rematch. Also, Bisping fighting henderson, my fave GSP fighting Alves. Best card of the year so far IMO. Jon fitch is fighting too.
Sounds like a great card. I will be ordering it for sure.
it will be a great card cause it is UFC 100 so they stacked it. Lesnar vs Mir for the title. GSP vs Alves for the title. Fitch vs tiago. Hendo vs Bisping (i hope hendo destroys him) and Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher
Really Omar, I mean really.
Headache for headache. If Omar was smart (I know) he would try to package these guys the org doesn’t like (for reasons that have nothing to do with Baseball) with other players for someone good, rather than dump them off for nothing one by one.
Lester looks horrible tonigh:
Leadoff walk on 4 pitches.
Looking very hittable tonight.
Royals fouling off a lot of pitches.
Jorge Arangure is reporting that the Red Sox signed Cuban defector Jose Iglesias to an 8.2 million dollar deal. This seems like they extremely overpaid considering that he has a questionable bat from everything that I have read and what it says in that article.
But he’s Ozzie Smith!!
/Gammons’d
If I was Iglesias, I’d run away with that money when the contract was over. What is he 16 now? Having 8 million by the time you are 20 seems nice.
OK 19, but however long the deal is I would definitely run away after it was done.
Theo just locked up a Gold Glover for 2014. Brilliant. Such foresight.
/ For Diamond Cutters. I’m Peter Gammons.
I don’t understand this signing really. He’s supposed to be 5′10, 180 and his body is maxed out at 19. His bat is a big question mark, they say he might hit enough to be a regular, it sure feels like they just signed a future Nick Punto but I guess when you are upgrading from Julio Lugo, that’s not all that bad.
How about; Melky, Veras, Igawa and Cash for Beltran.
Big problem with your trade proposal – Veras is now on the Indians. Too bad. We could have had Beltran!
for 20 mil less..still stinging over that
heh how about tomko once melancon establishes himself?
how bout we trade cashman for beltran and santana?
they’d probably want to throw in minaya, cant do that deal
Ok, ok… Replace Veras with Ransom. Now we’re good to go!
…give them Igawa twice…
If you mean Cash money, sure. If you mean Kevin Cash- no deal.
I wouldnt be surprised if Manuel encouraged the move. He seemed to have it in for Church. Francoeur does have a cannon arm from RF, but not much else… Its not an upgrade at all unless Francoeur is able to recapture some semblence of consistency at the plate. Just off a 3-4 night, he’d reached his highest trade value in the season.
LMAO for all the crap i gave cashman sometimes, that trade is just wow lol
melancon needs a nickname. i was using “powder” because:
1. he looks like powder
2. when he struck someone out i could call it “taking a powder”
better ideas?
Melky Cabrera OPS+ 100
Brett Gardner OPS+ 75
The Melky hate on RAB is silly.
I think you misread BRef…Gardner is at 103 OPS+
You’re right I did. Still, the Melky hate is a bit misplaced.
You got a kid who is younger than Gardner and he is being completely destroyed despite putting up reasonable numbers for his position.
Then again, people preach patience with prospects but refuse to acknowledge that Melky is only 24. He has been here for almost 5 years, I guess we tend to forget how young and how much upside the kid has.
I think you’re overstating the “Melky hate” a bit. Nobody’s crapping on Melky right now, he’s had an OK season so far.
And, I might add, nobody is hyping up Gardner while crapping on Melky. I think most people around here think they are what they are – ok, decent players who probably won’t develop into stars and who are probably better-suited to 4th OFer roles on good teams, but who have performed just fine this season as a tandem.
I don’t think people hate Melky but Melkman has been struggling a lot lately and Gardner has been hot, so understandably people want to see Gardner out there more. He’s also better defensively and has a lot more speed.
I think JoeG has platooned them really well this year so I don’t question his decision too much.
Melkman has hit lefties really well this year, .278/.350/.500
Gardner has hit righties really well, .298/.363/.440.
It’s a lefty so Joe is starting Melky, I have no problem with it.
thats probably a small sample size issue for Melky, i always thought he was much worse right handed, think he batted .215 against lefties last year.
its not a split platoon. whoever is hot gets to play, and when someone needs a rest the other guy plays too, once somone is cold then the other guy gets a chance and so on
Yeah, it is a pretty small sample, only 72 at bats, Melky was worse against LHP in years past. Still, we know Joe loves to play the opposite-hand matchups, this has to be in his mind. Especially since Brett has struggled a little in very limited experience playing against LHPs.
eh, i dont like platooning guys like that so early in their career, i want to give the guy chances to improve. unless his minor league numbers have a big split too
According to BR.com:
Melky – OPS+ 100
Gardner – OPS+ 103
(My bad, obviously I wrote this comment without seeing the responses above.)
Sorry, that’s no excuse.
Now you’re going to have to come up with a nickname for Mark Melancon as punishment.
haha the mets. I love watching them.
every game has at least one little league type of botched play
wow. the mets are bad
Mitchell pitched well again tonight and Matt Richardson is dominating in the GCL. Turley is as well for that matter but he didnt pitch today.
Cautiously optimistic about both Richardson and Turley, but this is GCL, it really doesn’t mean a whole lot. Better than seeing them struggle though.
well if they keep dominating like this maybe they go up to SI or start next year in Charleston
Jesus is in an uber slump. It tink he is something like 1 for his last 23
maybe he needs to call up bruce almighty…
yes, yes i am here all night
No worries.
As hot as he was, he bound to cool off. He’ll snap out of hit. Besides, he a BB tonight.
Plus, like the old saying goes, baseball is a game of adjustments. So once he finds the adjustment, he’ll be hitting in no time.
23 atbats is what 5 games? wouldnt consider that an uber slump
See what happens I talk bad about THE JESUS and THE JESUS reminds me of his greatness with a mere single to wet my appetite. LMAO
is it so hard to realize that melk and gardner may actually be decent STARTING players for any team, including one currently in first place in the hardest division in baseball?
when you talk about a 200m payroll, people dont expect to see guys platooning in CF, you expect to see an Upton or Sizemore or Beltran or Ellsbury (kidding)
lol at jacoby ellsbury
what a prick
What happen?
he tried to go home on a run down that was occurring between first and 2nd, and was gunned down at home
he then threw his helmet down in disgust and then was promptly thrown out of the game
+1 for getting ejected
this just in on our former pitcher…
Jeff Marquez, rhp, White Sox: The White Sox have had a lot of success in turning around the careers of seemingly failed pitching prospects. But Marquez looks to be one prospect who is on the wrong track. Picked up in the Nick Swisher trade, Marquez is 1-7, 10.35 in nine starts. He’s allowed 15 runs in his past seven innings and opponents are hitting .363 against him. Marquez’s last outing on Tuesday was especially bad—2 IP, 9 H, 7 ER—and he’s made it out of the fifth only once in nine tries.
Guidry must have messed up his wind up before he left
/gammons
Sorry to see that. I know it drives people nuts when we trade someone away and they do well, but I don’t want to see a kid fail like this, either. He’s about half a season away from pitching in Japan full time or selling cars.
does anyone else wish the yankees had signed adam dunn for 10 mil instead of getting nick swisher?
they make the same salary, but can you imagine a 3-4-5 of tex, a-rod, dunn?
holy crap that would be one of the most feared 3-4-5’s in years
people like to complain about Swisher’s defense, watch Dunn
i would have dunn as DH, not RF. Then again, you’d have to put matsui somewhere, so here’s to dreaming
but yeah i am watching him right now against the astros. He’s a beyond below avg fielder, but man that power is enticing. He would abuse the RF porch
He is a beast, 50+ bombs in pinestripes. Maybe they’ll get him next year with no clean DH and hes on a one year deal.
Where do I sign up?
they said Nationals have been asking for alot with everyone, plus is Strasburg comes up next year they probably want him to have some offensive support, and they’ll get 2 draft picks if he walks
True. Also, I think Damon may be our DH next year.
Posada will be the DH before Damon.
I don’t think so, Posada will catch the majority of games Mo willing.
Posada, Jeter, Arod, Tex all get one half day, do we really need a fulltime DH?
no clear DH*
well we’d have to trade for him. the nationals have him for one more year.
i know they will be asking a lot for him
dunn is also only 29!
Actually, according to Cot’s, he is signed until after 2010. So, the Yankees would have to trade for Dunn to get him.
he was saying next year it would be a one year deal, if we got him.
i think. lol
yeah thats what i was going for
I know. I meant if they trade for him next year he’ll only have one year left- not some 4-5year contract they have to absorb
I kept advocating for Cashman to trade Matsui to the Mariners for a slightly used NES console and a copy of Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt/Track and Field to clear a spot for a new DH.
I wanted to drop some fat bucks on Manny, but Dunn would have been fine as well.
Come on, if im trading Matsui, I want a free supply of Wii games.
haha that was hilarious…
I don’t really, especially in light of Nady out for season. Somebody has to play the OF and while Nick Swisher is no gold glover out there, he’s at least average, Adam Dunn is ridiculously bad in the OF. If you sign Adam Dunn to play RF, then Swisher>Dunn. Also, to say they make the same salary is an exaggeration. Adam Dunn makes 20 million in 2 years, Nick Swisher makes 12 million.
i mean yearly salary, not total contract
Question is, does Abreu make a comeback?
I don’t know why I put that there.
I like Dunn a lot. Imagine 40+ HR’s behind Al and Teix…
Yeah, and bad defense, terrible situational hitting, etc…
lol. He K’s a lot, he also walks over 100 times. Oh, and he’s always in scoring position. Put him on a team with some protection and he’ll be plenty good.
dude has 22 bombs with Josh Willingham behind him
Im not much of a Dunn fan.
As for Swisher, his defense has been pretty solid so far. His UZR at RF is -0.1 and his UZR/150 is 2.5.
While not a GG, he’s far from terrible especially considering the last couple years when you compare Swisher D to other RF’s like Sheffield who were brutal.
I don’t care what his UZR is. To call Swisher’s defense “pretty solid” so far is laughable. He’s been below average, at best.
The fact that you don’t care what his UZR is doesn’t mean you’re correct in your assessment.
I wonder if he’s one of these guys that takes the road less traveled to get to a fly ball, but can make up for it because he has above average speed/range for a RF. Basically he makes every play look difficult, but gets to more than the average RF.
He’s ugly but productive. Meaning he looks bad to our eyes because he’s ungraceful and kinda awkward, but he covers ground and makes outs.
Kinda like Johnny Damon.
AAAHAHAHAHA!!!
THAT is why I like NICK SWISHER…he’s just like me: ugly but productive!
screw stats because you remember 2-3 plays he messed up he must be below average
Translation: I don’t care about data and tangible information, I know what I know.
The guy D from my eyes isn’t as bad as you guys think. He has made some pretty good plays out there.
Im not saying he’s great or terrific, but solid would be the correct assesment cuz he has been alot better than he’s being credited for and the #’s/stats prove that.
I think all the comments were directed to Andrew’s comment not yours
I know.
Nah, I wanted them to get Dunn but there was really no room for him. He has no business playing the OF. If Posada shows he’s healthy enough to catch 120+ games behind the plate next year, maybe swing a trade for Dunn (doubt it) to DH, but I doubt that’s gonna happen. A 3-6 of Tex-A-Rod-Dunn-Posada would be fantastic, though. Swisher and Cano would be batting 7/8. Holy hell would that be a hell of a lineup.
my god that sounds like the lineup the yankees had a few years back when they scored 930 runs
i meant 960 runs
My dream ‘10 lineup:
Jeter SS
Crawford LF
Tex 1B
A-Rod 3B
Dunn DH
Posada C
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Gardbrerajax CF
id like that.
but i wouldnt like losing 5-6 prospects in trades for Crawford and Dunn
I’m hoping the Rays don’t pick up Crawford’s option. I know it’s not going to happen, though.
but i wouldnt like losing 5-6 prospects in trades for Crawford and Dunn
Agreed.
Yeah, me too, in the end. I can dream, though. I can dream.
My dreams are rarely about baseball.
They’re usually about Esther Baxter and Melyssa Ford.
ur into black chicks?
What do you think the Natinals would want for Dunn?
A vowel.
IETC
They can have the extra “e”
that was a money reply
What about Manny if he for some odd reason decides to opt out?
Of course I am talking about just a 1 to 2 year absolute max.
I’m on board with Manny. Backlash be damned.
He won’t opt out, though. Not post-scandal. He’ll want another year to distance himself from the story and keep his nose clean.
Stupider things have happened. But yes I agree.
Like giving Jamie Moyer a two year deal?
Like trading for Jeff Francouer to solve your offensive woes?
Like Vernon Wells at $100 mil+?
Like Oliver Perez for any amount of money at all?
I’ll take Barry Zito, personally.
yeah but if he bats .500 with a .600 OBP in the playoffs again (losing to the Yankees of course) and with Yankees getting 30m off the books, I can see Boras trying again. [Especially with Met fans desperate for a bat, Angels with Vlad, Escobar, Lackey, Figgins, Abreu as FA, and if it doesnt work Dodgers will take him back]
Church for Francoeur? Seriously? Wow, Omar. Wow.
This was meant to give their fan base some hope.
How do you think that will work out?
I think Mets fans need more Church, not less Church.
http://www.instantrimshot.com
. . . . . wow, you really need to post more. Your chops are rusty.
anyone know the song on the new pepsi baseball commercial?
Forever Young?
that’s what i thought, can’t find it on itunes though
Well, I believe it’s originally a Bob Dylan song.
Yes, it is a Bob Dylan song. And yes, it is Forever young.
I go to dinner, I come back and Montero singles.
Life is good.
a single?? A FUCKING SINGLE??? NOT A HOMER??? FUCK JESUS (MONTERO)!!!!!!
what’d you eat
Hey, now, this is a family friendly blog.
You don’t have to answer that, Rebecca.
FUCK FAMILY FRIENDLY!!
OK, i’m done
Tilapia livornese
That sounds dirtier than it is.
At least she didn’t order Penne ala Puttanesca.
You love yourself some Jesus! Every other post is about Monstero (great job on that btw). Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Dunn is horrible in the OF! That said, would much prefer his bat.
That’s why he’d be the DH.
a la David Ortiz
“But Dunn hates baseball” – JP Ricciardi
i have little faith in kc to win this game
So my softball team had probably the worst walk off hit tonight. Whatever, it won us the game.
Was it a Met-like dropped pop up or a Met-like walk with the bases loaded?
Slow pitch?
Yep.
And, it was a tapper that didn’t make it to the grass cut out. The catcher tagged the runner, but never touched the plate or tagged the runner coming across the plate. We won 12-11. I singled to start the inning and scored the winning run. I’m awesome.
They count singles in slow pitch?
I can’t stand slow pitch, I played one slow pitch tourney and said never again. Played modified pitch for about 10 years, a tiny bit closer to baseball.
What would have happened to Matsui with Dunn aboard?
He would have been free to do battle with Mothra and Anguirus.
Also, the reply button is your friend.
Thx for the heads-up tommie. No way Matsui doesn’t play with his salary.
you would have replied to the according comment
Brandon Phillips stole home earlier off the Mets
Pagan, Cora, Murphy, Reed, Tatis, Schneider, Reyes in the same lineup is embarassing
Wait till they add Frenchy!
nah, it’s funny. heh.
well, with Jose Reyes, it’s a bit better but they have Argenis Reyes
Eh, did you see the play? It’s wasn’t your typical steal. Schneider tried to pick him off at third with 2 outs, Phillips broke for home, Wright caught it and threw it to the fans sitting behind the plate.
Ah, the Mets.
No, just saw it in the boxscore- but I guess a straight steal would be less embarassing then them throwing the ball around and letting him score
….Why is this not surprising?
Wow. Ton of low scoring games so far tonight. Yankees game going to follow?
as long as we win I’m cool with it
Yeah, I’m cool either way if(when) we win. But if we lose, I’d rather it be 1-0 than 10-9. Would like a strong start from Joba.
Me too, especially for the fans’ and somewhat the organization’s faith in him and of course the bullpen.
Did anyone notice that Cody Ransom is playing SS tonight. Jeter is DHing.
Apparently someone thought his terrible fielding might stay at third while he moves over to SS.
Bitchfest in 3… 2… 1…
jesus save us
ransom sucks ass on defense.
he has like 5 or 6 errors in 19 ish games
he has 4 errors “only”
shucks
Why is it that Pedroia’s wife has a baby, then he suddenly goes on a hot streak. While Wang’s wife has a baby, and he only gets ’slightly better’. The kid has a signed ball from friggin’ MO. I would kill for that ball.
That baby is more gritty and scrappy than Wang’s bigger baby
I heard it was 4 inches and 1.2 lbs, but was born with a grit-beard.
“Pedroia’s wife has a baby”
Someone in this country need to stop under age pregnancies. 11 year olds are having kids now. Good God.
By the way, how many people here wanted Lowe over Burnett? How’s that lookin now?
good for now
at least you didn’t say it in a “Little Bill” way
I did.
My argument is looking bad now. But I didn’t expect to be proven right by July, I expected to be proven right by 2012 or so.
But please, keep gloating. It means we have the better pitcher. I always hope to be wrong when I criticize a Yankee decision. I’d rather be wrong than be losing.
i wanted AJ, but cant judge a 5 year deal on one half of a season
in Lowe’s defense, he pitched 6.1 IP, 3ER against Boston, while AJ has 7.2 IP with 11ER in 2 starts
well the yankees are 51-34, and 0-8 vs Boston.
52-33 and 1-7 would look nicer but i wanted AJ, just playing devil’s advocate
While i didn’t want neither singings, I did say that if I had to choose, I would choose Burnett cuz of the immense upside and had the stuff to go toe to toe with the AL East competition.
Lowe isn’t even that much better than Pettitte.
Just out of curiousity- how did you want the rotation to set up if you didnt want AJ or Lowe?
CC-Wang-Pettitte-Joba-Hughes.
Which wouldn’t have been that bad, had IPK not also gotten hurt.
And Wang not falling apart as well.
Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying. If we didn’t have AJ, we would have had a bigger hole when Wang imploded, but we would have been able to fill that hole capably if IPK had never had the aneurysm.
on paper it doesnt look bad. but Wang’s struggles obviously would have put them in a bad position
Well I wanted Ben Sheets cuz he basically had the stuff of Burnett, and had better control.
Nevertheless, I also said during the regular season last year that I had a very good feeling that Burnett would be a yankee.
Yeah glad the Yankees didnt sign Sheets
Meh, depending on how he turns out, you may wish we had signed Sheets.
isnt he gone for the year though? so like you said above that just creates a bigger hole if we did sign him
DAMN IT ROYALS!
1 HIT 1 RBI WINS THE F’ING GAME.
SMOLTZ IS PITCHING TOMORROW. HOPE HE GETS WRECKED!
What a gritty, gutty performance by the Red Sox
Aroldis Chapman is 21, not 26.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1303
Cuba is a Communist country. Say what you want about Commies, but they keep amazing records. The world may have never known what Pol Pot was up to, but the Khmer Rouge left a paper trail that was unbelievably detailed.
Commies = Mormons
So back to $50 mil I guess.
Exactly. Maybe more.
If I’m reading this right, you’re going to give this kid 50-60 mil and still not see him pitch for a year or two.
Would anyone be in favor of bringing back Abreu for a 1-2 year deal to DH?
That’s if we can’t get Manny or Dunn
Do we have a MLB player comp for Jesus Montero?
BA saying he has the best bat in the minors makes me wonder if he has Miguel Cabrera-type ceiling. But I suspect he’s less of a natural hitter than Miguel, and more of a power guy. But I really don’t know.
let’s just go with albert pujols
Hanley Ramirez in an Albert Pujols body.
Babe Ruth with athleticism.
no, that’s miguel angel sano
Do we have a MLB player comp for Jesus Montero?
Pele.
Or possibly Franklin Delano Roosevelt, without the polio.
I think Miggy is his ceiling and Jorge is his probable reach.
Pedroia RBI double in the 8th
I love these suckier Angels.
This from Neyer’s blog: ‘Awesome quote from Omar Minaya: “One thing we like about Francoeur is the amount of games that he plays.”‘