Move coming: Should it be Melky?
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The Yankees need to make a roster move to add Chien-Ming Wang to the roster. It will probably be an outfielder and it will probably be Kevin Thompson.
But perhaps it should be Melky Cabrera. After a poor spring training, he is 14 of 70 (.200) with no extra-base hits and six RBI. He has trouble getting the ball out of the infield.
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on Monday, April 23rd, 2007 at 11:20 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
I COMPLETELY agree that he needs to be sent down. Bernie is really really hitting himself for not trying out. Maybe he would of even beat melky out with the poor start in ST. His loss.
Agree!
It would be unfair to Kevin Thompson if he doesn’t get the same at bats like Melky did last year. Melky had his chance.
Why not… might as well give Thompson a shot, as long as he is capable of playing all 3 OF positions. Anyone know if he has a decent arm? Besides, he’s 27… it might be now or never for him.
Can we send Torre with him?
Yes, but it wont be. Instead of Torre doing what is better for the team he will stay with his favorites. Kevin T. can hit, plays good defense and they can use him to steal bases late in the game. They should send Melky to AAA until he gets his confidence back and actually starts hitting. He is just swinging at everything.
Some observation sfrom the game:
Clueless is clueless again in the use of the pitchers. However, give credit to him that he used Mariano for an inning so that he gets his sharpness back.
Igawa should spend time in the minors to get control and get used to larger baseballs in US. Dice-K is also having similar problems with bigger baseball, but he is too talented and able to overcome it, mostly. Iamn ot giving up on Igawa yet. He did have good success in Japan.
Many of us always love Jeter. But at the same time, let us be realistic. He gets much more credit than he deserves. He is a case of being at the right place at the right time. If you really look back, among the position players, Bernie and O’Neil were bigger contributors for our dynasty, not Jeter.
Until clueless Joe learns that it is OK to lose a game and not burn all the bullpen arms, we do not have a hope with this pitchiing staff. Look what happened. Proctor, Vizcaino and Bruney were pretty good to start the year, but clueless burned their arms. Now they may have long term effects of this misuse and my never recover this year.
The sooner Joe is fired and Girardi is brought in the better it is for the team. It may happen, if we lose the next two games to Tampa due to Clueless’s stupidity.
Still, I beleive we will recover and win the division possibly in the last week of the season, inspite of Clueless. But as it has been happening in the last six years, we may not overcome Clueless and still lose in the first round…….untless he is fired before the playoffs.
I agree…send Melky down. I love Melky and I think he is going to be a good player, but he seems to be too comfortable right now and I think Torre needs to send him a message that if he does not hit, his defensive will not keep him in the majors.
right now we have no need for melky since all 3 OF are back on the field. so he wouldn’t be having at-bats except for occasional pinch hitting and running. So this is a great time for him to go down to the minors and get back his swing groove. in the meantime KT can handle the back up chores with occasional start and pinch running.
Melky might be struggling, but he is 22 years old and Kevin Thompson is 27 right now. So, Cheng, Melky is better suited for the job than Thompson, since he did produce last year (I understand that was last year), but he is just in a slump right now, and using Melky as the scapegoat for an 8-10 record is not fair.
Well daid Neil.
Sorry for the typo.
Well said Neil.
It’s starting to look like a good idea. I can’t imagine that Thompson would be any worse than Cabrera with the bat right now. And having Thompson around would also prevent Torre from batting one of our worst hitters in the lead-off spot. Maybe it’s time to give Melky a stint in AAA to work things out. While his defense is good, it’s not so good that it justifies another no-bat player on the bench.
A-Rod’s now winning the MLB triple crown… One thing to smile about.
anaconda to stormy three days ago:
“Congrats, Stormy. You have proven you don’t have any idea what you are talking about and don’t have any insight whatsoever.
No need to debate with you any longer because you cannot string together coherent thoughts together when you are foaming at the mouth while typing your response.”
you’re right. you didn’t call him an idiot. you used several words to insult his intelligence.
you’re absolutely right, though. this is childish. i really wish you’d treat others with respect around here because it ruins the blog EVERY BIT as much as my negativity.
you’re a condescending, arrogant jerk.
i’m going to cool out for a week, like i said. i hope you take that time to consider the possibility that maybe you’re contributions to this forumn aren’t exactly productive, either. people can have opinions that differ from yours. it doesn’t make them idiots. plenty of people know an awful lot about this game, and there are a number of ways to look at any given situation. i’ll be back in a week. i hope you can be more courteous to myself and others. if not, then i hope you’ll just ignore my posts altogether and not engage in a dialogue that evidently causes you to lose all sight of courtesy.
NO NO NO… He is a much better fielder then Thompson and will hit… He will hit.
Tonight Torre made no mistakes with the pitching the only question I have is why not use Farnsworth???I mean I am not a fan of his but if he is on the roster pitch him in the 7th..
Melky will be fine, he has a good baseball IQ and will succeed……..
Are you sure Zachary?
Is A-Rod leading in BA too?
While I think the Yankees would be better off firing Torre (I’ve thought that way for a few years), I would gladly settle for ONE reporter asking him ONE tough question about his game strategy and bullpen management. Maybe something like “after throwing 30 pitches and appearing in 10 games, did you REALLY think Vizcaino was going to be effective last Friday?” Instead, Torre’s postgames come off like a fireside chat with Grandpa Joe. Pete has repeatedly stated he isn’t a fanboy, so I was hoping he’d press Torre a little. Instead, it seems like no one wants to step up. Of course, when the issue was Arod’s relationship with Jeter, the media was much more zealous. Talk about not being on top of the REAL stories!
you’re = your
forum has no n.
sorry.
Cleveland Mike Thompson is worse look at his K’s.. He strikes out a ton, Melky is not getting good wood on the ball but he does not strike out that much, he is in a slump, it happens….
He is a future 280 to 305 hitter……
I don’t think anyone is making Cabrera a “scapegoat” for Yankee losses. Melky isn’t pitching, and it’s hard to make anyone who doesn’t pitch a scapegoat for anything right now. That said, he’s in a pretty deep funk right now: even his hits are bloopers that find open space. If Melky’s going to help the Yankees over the course of the season, he’s going to have to find his stroke, and I don’t know how he finds that on the bench.
Guys the bullpen nonsense by you couch coach’s is a joke.. The starters have been so bad Torre has not had a choice but to use everyone except Mariano a ton..
Look at the last 6 or so games they avg. about 4.1 innings a starter, look they are pitching Colton Bean……………………………..
The truth is that offense doesn’t really matter here. Both Melky and Thompson will be fourth outfielders with the return of Matsui. Both players are athletic but Melky probably has the advantage defensivly due to experience. On the other hand, he is only 22 and at 27 Kevin Thompsom might deserve more of a shot. Melky can always come back if he is sent down and the Yankees know what he can do. The Yankees don’t really know what Thompson can do in a longer stint in the majors so maybe it would be good to keep Thompson on the squad and see how he handles it. If all else fails, Melky will be waiting in AAA.
Regarding Joe’s interviews, I beleive not every one gets to ask questions. You have to be close to “YES” to ask questions!!!!! They will not ask any tough questions unless they come from upstairs like was the case in 2005.
What I’ve learned…
1. Alex Rodriguez is good, I mean really good. This must be what is was like rooting for Mantle/Maris.
2. If Kei Igawa were a Japanese Restaurant, their feature dish would be Teriyaki Meatballs (that would either be served slowly on the middle of the plate or missing the the plate completely).
3. Joe Torre likes to barbecue, his favorite food to put on grill is relief pitchers-but not just one pitcher, oh no, he likes a variety. He wants to try one of each, every day, all day.
4. While in Tampa dining at an Italian Restaurant, Joe Torre and Brian Cashman had the following conversation…
Joe: You know how I said I wouldn’t use Rivera in the 8th? Well, I lied.
Cash: You know how I said we wouldn’t rush Phil Hughes, well, I lied. He’s pitching Thursday.
Joe: Thank god, because after using Pettite for relief, I wasn’t sure if I could do anything more desperate.
Waiter: Can I interest you gentleman in a bottle of wine.
Joe: Absolutely, please open your best bottle of wine that probably shouldn’t be uncorked for another two, three years.
Waiter: But please sir, the wine has not matured yet. It won’t….
Cash: I CAN’T WAIT ANY LONGER, I NEED THAT HUGHES VALLEY VINTAGE NOW!
I think it would be a smart move…give Melky some chance to work on his swing and get his game back together in the minors and then bring him back up. But there’s no way Joe will send Melky down over Thompson…
Will: I’m curious, how do you know what is asked of Joe? We ask about the bullpen all the time and he gives us his reasons. My job is not to press him to admit he is wrong. My job is to ask the question and get the answer. I’m a reporter, not some frustrated fan.
Stuart,
Nobody is claiming that starters were doing good.
There are 7 arms in the bullpen.
Why grind down the arms of only Proctor, Vizcaino and Bruney? Why use some one like Proctor in three games in a row in losing causes? He was very tired yesterday because of that he could not retire any one before giving that 3-run homerun.
This is currently worse than 2005, and 2005 was B-A-D, because at least we had starters who went 6 or 7 (or 8, even! Randy) more often than not.
Hopefully Wang can go 7 each time, and Pettitte continue to be awesome. When does Mussina come back? Because then we can start to have a rotation, and actually have a chance.
If we didn’t have three first basemen (or three catchers if you consider Phelps a catcher), we wouldn’t have to choose between Thompson or Cabrera. But we do. So I think you send Thompson back and keep Melky because he produced last year and you treat the current hitlessness as a slump, not a ticket back to the minors. Sadly, Thompson at 27 is already out of time except as a 4th outfielder somewhere else.
Pete: I watch the YES postgame, read articles and listen to your file uploads. Torre is rarely asked about his many curious moves and poor handling of the bullpen, and his responses never elicit follow-ups. Every question is always carefully worded so as not to offend. Please point me to an example otherwise?
Also, you can’t have it both ways. During the Arod/Underdog debate, you stated that you weren’t a fanboy and it was your job (along with your fellow reporters) to ask tough questions. You defended Sherman for his persistence on the whole “opt out” debate, but now you are suggesting you can’t press Torre on REAL issues.
The NY media walks on egg shells with Joe…if I am wrong, I look forward to your uploading a clip to show otherwise. You can demean me for actually caring about whether the team wins, but that doesn’t mean my point is invalid. I realize you have stated that your main interest is quick games and controversial stories, but some frustrated fans also care about how the team is being (mis)managed.
I say send Melky back. He’s slumping, and some time in AAA will help him get his swing and his confidence back. When that happens, switch him with Thompson and get him some ABs.
However, that isn’t going to happen.
Um, yeah, Kasey. Whatever you say.
Yes, I still have confidence that Melky projects to be a very good player, but he needs to be sent down NOW!
I dunno maybe Melky just isn’t good at being a everyday player, atleast not yet. I’d hate to just give up on the kid so quickly. As I said in the other posts regarding Arod…WOW. That’s the only word to describe him. I’m still not panicking but it’s painful to watch our pitching right now. Our offense puts up 5,6,7,8 runs and still isn’t enough. All we are asking for is average or slightly below average pitching right now but we can’t even get that. It’s been awful or horrific pitching. Arod and Andy have been my only bright spots so far.
Man, Igawa is crap. Leave it to Cash to lock up close to 50 large on the worst Japanese pitcher to ever cross the Pacific. At least Irabu had legitimate stuff. This guy can’t break a pane of glass, has at best average breaking stuff and so far can’t locate his pitches for sh*t.
Meanwhile Ted Lilly’s got four quality starts under his belt and has been in the 6th inning every time out.
Any chance we can reverse post him back to Japan?
I’m amazed how quickly the Melky fan club jumped ship on him already, not even a month into the season.
He was the second coming last year, a true phenom.
People wanted to not re-sign Abreu in 2008 just for Melky to play. Yeah right. HA HA
I thought he should have stayed down last year, not because he can’t be a good player but for further development.
He may never be what he was expected to other than a 4th outfielder.
The person I’d like to see get more serious consideration is Phelps. With some work he could be valuable to this team in many ways and he has some power at the plate.
I was not one of those people on the “Melky should start in LF” bandwagon, but he’s still a solid 4th outfielder.
The problem is that everyone thought he was an everyday player.
He’s not that kind of player. He’s a 4th outfielder that can provide a spark on this team when he gets a gets a chance to play.I was a big “sell high” advocate when they were in negotiations with the Pirates in regards to Gonzalez.
Oh well, it didn’t happen. However, we shouldn’t throw him to the wolves simply because he is struggling.
Melky will be fine. He’s just not an everyday player right now.
The whole Ted Lilly thing has been dancing through my head as well. In the off-season I was really hoping the Yanks were going to bring Lilly back to the old boogeydown…no such luck. He would have fit in well, and he’s a Red Sox killer…not that it’s all about the Red Sox, but it would have been nice to have a guy that can neutralize them.
All that being said, I’m really beginning to question Cashman’s ability to evaluate pitching. He does a fine job with the hitting…but the pitching, that’s another story. Just look at some of the acquisitions over the last few years. Brown, Pavano, Vasquez, letting Lieber go, letting Petitte go (lucky he’s back), Weaver(although who could have know he would be that bad), and now Igawa. I’m sure there are some I missed, and of course during the late 90’s everything was coming up roses, but come on. If you’ve done any bit of research, you had to know the story on most of these guys.
What are the thoughts out there on Cashman’s pitching acquisitions?
Send Melkey down…KT has earned the right to stay up
the pitchers have figured out “la leche”
Are you kidding Melky is the guy. If anyone should be sent packing after a slow start it should be Nieves and bring up Chavez.
Keep Melky. His average is higher than Minkaveitch. Dump Minky and get a 1B who can hit.
i would have to give melky till mid-may . after that maybe promote kevin reese or kevin thompson ( where is bernie when you need him ? ) the bottom line is – it’s not the outfield i’m worried about .
Did Melky play winter ball this past season? I’m pretty sure he did prior to the 2006 season and for some reason do not think he did this past year. Send him down. Let him work it out. Especially since Matsui and Damon are back (or at least seem to be) Give Thompson the shot he deserves.
Melky needs to play everyday. And he wont get that shot now. Triple A wont kill him. Plus he can work on his CF Defense.
Melky played Winter Ball. He just missed the caribbean series, because the Yankees didn´t allow him to participate.
This is an easy answer: send Melky down and put Thompson in. Thompson isn’t that far off defensively and his speed alone makes him more of an asset than Melky. Though a small sample size, Thompson looks more impressive than Melky this season and deserves a shot.
Melky sucks, trade him for a back up catcher. Bring up Tabata, the guy is ready and I doubt he’s really only 18 anyway. He’s from the Dominican and those guys all fake their ages. Who knows how old Melky and Cano really are.
Anyone that thought Melky was ever going to be anything more than a weak hitting 4th outfielder is a moron. Dude has zero power.
Cash did a bad job sending us into this year with Pavano and Igawa being counted on, but before this I don’t think he did a bad job. Each individual deal was or seemed it would be a good one at the time it was made. Brown was coming off a stellar year and had been an incredible pitcher throughout his career when healthy and we just gave up Weaver for him. Weaver was also awful and the reason we got Brown was we were willing to take on the salary, we took a chance and unfortunately it didn’t work out. I’d personally rather have Brown on the DL than Weaver in the rotation. Weaver when we got him however was supposed to turn into an ace and we gave up only Lilly and maybe another prospect. But Lilly was never that great and while he would be an improvement over Igawa or Pavano at this time, it seemed that Weaver was going to be better. Vasquez, again, who would have known, the guy seemed like a can’t miss and we didn’t give up anything extreme. Nick Johnson is still not healthy and we have no place for Juan Rivera as our starting outfielders are all better. I don’t see why we would have wanted to re-sign Lieber and by not re-signing Pettitte, we got to avoid his elbow injury. There’s also Randy Johnson, another pitcher about whom it was unthinkable that he wouldn’t be great. Everybody thought we had just bought the championship when we got him. It didn’t work out, but that happens. I think Cash, until this year, didn’t make any decisions I wouldn’t have made, even the Pavano signing, it looked good at the time, while he may have had some injury concerns, nobody could have expected that he’d be injured for the better parts of three years, it’s Mike Hampton-ish in its freakishness. Now Cash is trying another route in developing pitchers since the free agent market hasn’t panned out. There may be some danger in him going too far in the opposite direction from reliance on veterans, but I’ll give him time before I pass judgment. If this Hughes call up works out, Cash is going to be a genius again. Hopefully Wang and Moose will be able to stay healthy once back and things will return to some normalcy. We just had a pretty unlucky month.
Melky earned a spot on this roster and he was up most of last year. He’s slumping through a whopping 14 games. As Jeter, A-Rod, Torre and a thousand of others have said, you go through slumps and have to play through it. Melky’s slumping and he plays solid defense, leave him alone, he’ll be fine. And for that matter, he has started hitting the last few weeks, so why are you all so convinced he’s not coming through it?
BBfan – “Bernie and O’Neil were bigger contributors for our dynasty, not Jeter.”
While Bernie and O’Neil were clearly huge contributors for those WS championships, Jeter was every bit as valuable. Maybe you didn’t watch those playoffs, or maybe you’ve forgotten, but he did win a WS MVP and has set several playoff and WS records. I don’t disagree that he is sometimes overrated due to his popularity, but to say he wasn’t as big a contributor to those championships as anyone is purely absurd.
Jose Tabatas from Venezuela and hes definetaly not ready and your retard factor per word ratio is off the charts
YankeesLuv, Melky was an everyday player last year and did quite well. Interesting how most of the people looking to send him down have forgotten that.
jonathan, what exactly has KT done to earn anything?