Melky?

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 8, 2007 12:20 PM CST in Milwaukee Brewers News

I think most of the regulars on this site are in agreement that we're a-ok going into the season with Bill Hall as our starting centerfielder. That's even more true if we can't trade away either Kevin Mench or Geoff Jenkins--all of these guys are going to be on the major league club, and you gotta figure we don't have room for a new center fielder if we have three LF guys.

Nonetheless, that doesn't stop people from trying to solve our "problem." Robert Galanis at The Wisconsin Sports Bar makes his suggestion:

Answer: 22 year old Melky Cabrera - LF NYY

The Yankees have already tossed him up as trade bait to improve pitching, so why not offer up Turnblow or Jose Capellan. The Yankees won't be able to pass up on a 100 mph fastballer. And besides a fortune cookie once told me "Speed is poor substitute fo accuracy." We could even throw in Shrek as an added bonus (sorry I like Favre...I mean Jenkins).

Cabrera is young and steaming with potential. He will fit right in, in the Brewers clubhouse plus he gives the Brewers a little of the latin influence every winning baseball team needs.

In a way, it's a decent idea: Melky is expendable in the Yankees outfield of Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Bobby Abreu, and Brian Cashman has indeed made him available in trade talks for the likes of Mike Gonzalez.

A few problems, though:

Brian Cashman is not stupid.
Jose Capellan is no Mike Gonzalez.
Derrick Turnbow is barely Geremi Gonzalez right now.
Melky's the prototypical "CF in the minors, LF in the majors." He could handle center field, but it would not be a defensive upgrade over Hall or Brady Clark.
Melky's not much of an upgrade over Clark on offense, either. ZiPS projects him for next year at .295/.355/.445. Quite respectable, but compare to Brady's career line: .278/.356/.389. Basically, the difference is 5 home runs a year. That's not huge, especially if the goal is to get a leadoff hitter.

Now, just to be clear, I like Melky Cabrera. I think he's a good player. But before I gave up some serious value for him (and I'm convinced he won't be traded for less), I'd need to be assured that he could play average or better defense in CF. If not, he's a below-average offense corner guy. Still a nice player to have on your team as a cheap 4th OF for the next few years, but not an upgrade for the 2007 Brewers.

It's simple. If Hall hits the way he did last year and plays credible defense in CF, he's one of the best players in the league. No kidding. Here's a list of all of the center fielders who out-OPSd Billy last year:

That's it. And Wells beat him by a mere 1 point. Wells is older, just signed a $100M contract extension, and we're worried about upgrading on his equal.

Sheesh.

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Timesaver

Here's a little trick I use to help sift through the junk flowing through the tubes of the Internets:

Don't read anything written by people that use words like "Turnblow." There is no better indication that a person wastes little time on thought than the appearance of one of these lazy cheap shots. What is that even supposed to mean, except that the writer once passed through second grade and learned how to substitute parts of a person's name with funny-sounding words?

by Marty McSuperFly on Jan 8, 2007 12:43 PM CST reply actions

Lighten up Mcfly

Gee Marty I dont remember Rob using turnblow in his post(which was his first post ever at the WSB)

Now some of the rest of us yes we love the term Turnblow the name fit him for the second half of the season he only cost the Brewers 10-11 games right. sorry you dont like our sense of humor Marty but get off your high horse its a sports blog not Sports Illustrated. What are you related to Turnbow?

I give Rob credit for his first blog post ever he got people talking at our site and here if you took the time to look at the comments to that post he had people from our own site disagree with him.

So just lighten up Marty

WSB Chris

by WSB Chris on Jan 8, 2007 1:41 PM CST up reply actions

Uh oh

You don't want to get me started on punctuation.

by Marty McSuperFly on Jan 8, 2007 1:47 PM CST up reply actions

Whats punctuation?

I guess Rob did use turnblow that make the post even better outstanding

Don't get me started on what you can do with your punctuation :)

Have you ever had fun Marty you should try it. I doubt it will kill you but you never know.

by WSB Chris on Jan 8, 2007 1:58 PM CST up reply actions

what i found amusing...

...was the phrase "steaming with potential"...i've heard of "teeming with potential"...

Whatever happened to Ramser Correa???!

by TrueBlueBrewCrew on Jan 8, 2007 8:57 PM CST up reply actions

Indeed

The Indians, loaded with young talent, could be the Cleveland Steamers.

by battlekow on Jan 9, 2007 12:05 AM CST up reply actions

oh no you din't

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 9, 2007 1:14 AM CST up reply actions

snap

by battlekow on Jan 9, 2007 9:34 AM CST up reply actions

Now you tell me

I just get home from registering Turnblownsave at the patent office, and this is what I read.

Sheesh.

"C'mon, boys, let's get 'em some RUNS!" --- Daron Sutton, pretty much every game of the 2005 season.

by roguejim on Jan 10, 2007 3:50 AM CST up reply actions

Melky/Brady

Well, I don't think 55 points of slugging is insignificant, considering it's the difference between adequate power and the epitome of punch-and-judy, and that's before you throw in the age difference. Plus, if they Brewers did somehow acquire Cabrera, assuming they could dump Clark on someone for a C prospect, they'd be saving about $3.5M.

by battlekow on Jan 8, 2007 2:28 PM CST reply actions

I think if we could dump Brady and his salary

it would've happened by now.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 8, 2007 3:06 PM CST up reply actions

Dunno

I'm not convinced that they don't want him; maybe its stubbornness on Melvin's part. Having a guy like Cabrera, though, would obviously make Clark redundant.

by battlekow on Jan 8, 2007 5:05 PM CST up reply actions

Amen.

55 SLG points is not insignificant, especially since Melky is young and likely to improve, and Brady is the opposite of that.

But Cashman is not dumb, as Jeff said. Why wouldn't he want a very cheap and talented 4th OF especially with Damon ready to miss 30+ games? If he gets a legit closer candidate, fine, but I'm not sure that Capellan is that -- though Gomer might be . . .

by baumann on Jan 8, 2007 7:54 PM CST up reply actions

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