Comments on: The incredibly streaky Melky Cabrera

By: Johnny, Melky hope September slumps end in October | River Avenue Blues

Johnny, Melky hope September slumps end in October | River Avenue Blues — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:01:34 +0000

[...] last wrote about Melky on September 8. He had just gone 3 for 4 with two RBI in the second game of the Tampa Bay doubleheader, in which [...]

By: Tank Foster

Tank Foster — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:26:58 +0000

There are practical limits to everything: payroll, availability of players, willingness of players or other teams to deal available players, the value of upgrades, etc. What you write here would, I think, clash with these practical limitations, on several fronts.

Maybe it will be a different story if Melky gets $5M/year in arbitration. Then, as has been suggested, maybe letting Gardner and Jackson platoon in CF and using the $5M on, say, a relief pitcher, would be better. But for the current NYY team, even with $5M to work with, if I were GM I’d be wondering how much I’d be really accomplishing trying to replace Melky at or near that salary.

By: Omar

Omar — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:10:02 +0000

I wish there was a word in the English language to describe how bad Melky is during his slumps.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:53:48 +0000

Dunno why you backed down. The point is the same.

Even if a baseball team goes 162-0 its the job of management to improve the team. There is NO resting. There is NO sitting back and enjoying the game… Thats for us fans.

And the best way to improve as a team is to replace your weakest link since its MUCH more cost efficient to replace a slightly below average player with an average or slightly above average player.

If, heaven forbid, you have all-stars at every position, you should be trying to replace your weakest all-star with better one… or a younger one (i.e. cheaper)… or a super star.

Thats the mentality a good GM should have.

As for Melky, I think the weakest position right now is the 4th starter, 5th starter (but who cares in Oct) and CF. I have more confidence in Joba than Melky so that makes CF the position that needs the most scrutiny.

And who cares if he is even above average for a CF or that he helps more than hurts. If everyone else helps a lot and he helps a bit, then he is still your worst player.

By: Omar

Omar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:16:07 +0000

It depends what the trade is for. If there is a team out there that wants to trade an everyday player, or perhaps a 4th starter for Melky Cabrera…I’d jump all over it. However, if a team’s wanting to dump salary for Melky, I dunno if I’d do it. Since Jackson is sucking, they no longer have the luxury of thinking that they have a legit CF in the minors…I’d try to hold onto him and Gardner unless the right deal comes along.

By: mustang

mustang — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:15:20 +0000

“The bigger question here is whether this is an anti-Melky post or not. ”

Well it seem like Bo just figured out that RAB curve-ball I agree now Melky can bat .500 at least to next Melky stinks posting.

By: leftylarry

leftylarry — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:56:09 +0000

Melky is a bit of a dog.
Seems like he only picks it pu when he’s about to be demoted or lose his ojb.He stunk when Gardner was injured and now with Gardner about to return he suddenly gets hot.
Can’t fgiure out if he’s a mediocre player or a solid one but immature.
I certainly wouldn’t ever give him a long term deal.He’ll dog it until his contract year every time.

By: King of Fruitless Hypotheticals

King of Fruitless Hypotheticals — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:34:23 +0000

how sick? like h1n1 sick?

By: King of Fruitless Hypotheticals

King of Fruitless Hypotheticals — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:32:34 +0000

Tom Zig’s gardener is white…therefore Gritty. I like this guy already!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:24:33 +0000

I thought Melky has one more option left. I believe they didn’t burn an option last year because it was so late in the season that they sent him down.

Also, I’m not sure that the service time argument is correct. I think that is important for a case where he wasn’t playing baseball full time, but both Gardner and Melky have basically been full time baseball players their whole adult lives. I don’t have much evidence to back up this thinking though…

I was looking for examples of players that had a relatively poor track record for a while and then developed in the majors at age 24-26. There really aren’t many that I could find, but I don’t know why there aren’t more. It’s relatively rare for players to come up at age 20, and those that do are usually the super stars (Justin Upton, A-Rod). Those that do come up with less hype seem to generally fall flat, but there are some examples of success.

The best comp I could find is Aramis Ramirez. Through his age 24 season, his line was .259/.308/.432/.740 (88 OPS+) in 1838 PA. For Melky, he’s currently at .271/.332/.387/.719 (88 OPS+) in 2079 PA. Ramirez finally developed at age 26, and his line since then is .302/.366/.551/.917 (131 OPS+).