Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 25, 2006
Cabrera's Time

Melky Cabrera is playing decent baseball. He's shown no power yet, but his OBA after thirteen games this season is very good, .413. So I have to ask, were the Yankees too impatient with the youngster? Before it looked like the Yankees could sign Damon, I thought a Crosby bridge to Cabrera would work fine. It turns out Melky was ready to make that bridge very short. The Yankees could have saved a lot of money and made themselves younger.

It's going to work out anyway. Melky got a little more AAA seasoning, and he's not under pressure since he's coming in as an injury replacement, not as the next Bernie Williams. Eventually, you'll see an outfield of Cabrera, Damon and Sheffield, or Sheffield will move to DH and Bernie will be out. It seems reports of the demise of the Yankees offense were a bit premature. And a poor farm system will have produced two pretty decent hitters in consecutive years.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:19 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I'm glad to see Melky settling in finally after last years poor showing. He's now shown much power, but he's still VERY young, so I'm sure that will improve. I'm impressed with his eye and his BB/K ratio of 1:1. And his fielding will continue to improve.

I'm still glad they signed Damon. He's been banged up, but without him the Yankees' OF would be in a BIG trouble. Is he worth that price for 4 years? Probably not, but he should be worth it for the first 3 years, and that's good enough for me, especially with the poor crop of free agents after the 2006 season.

Posted by: sabernar at May 25, 2006 10:07 AM

Agreed, Damon was a good sign. Carl Crawford would have been a great one, but Tampa Bay didn't want to let him go, understandably. Cabrera should be the everyday left fielder this year (with Bernie getting some starts against lefties) and take over for Sheffield in right next year. They could have a log jam between Sheff and Giambi at DH next year if Duncan is ready to come up. But that sounds like a nice problem to have.

Posted by: Vic at May 25, 2006 01:32 PM

I don't think Duncan is going to be ready to come up next year, if ever. His current line in Columbus?

.209/.279/.255 with 0 HR, 3 2B and 1 3B in 110 AB's. Yikes.

That's pretty bad...his spring and Arizona Fall League performances were WAY out of line with his historical performance. Granted, he's not this bad, but I don't think that he's anywhere near ready to play 1st base for the Yankees.

Posted by: Dave S. at May 25, 2006 04:39 PM

I didn't realize Duncan had gotten of to such a bad start. Maybe the Yanks would want to keep Sheff around another year to DH and give Duncan more time.

Posted by: Vic at May 25, 2006 07:14 PM

Are the Yankees even going to keep Sheffield? If he keeps on getting hurt, they would be better off having Melky play right and Giambi DH. It is the club's option for next year. Maybe if they can sign a decent young outfielder this winter, they might let Sheff go.

Posted by: Alex at May 25, 2006 07:58 PM
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