Today in the Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jul 24, 2007 
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Alex Rodriguez has 100 RBI in less than 100 games. The last two Yankees to do that were two guys named Gehrig and DiMaggio.
Brian Cashman will huddle with the execs in Tampa today.This notebook also has updates on Phil Hughes, Jason Giambi, Scott Proctor and the Pena family.
Shelley Duncan stayed in the lineup and will remain there as long as he hits.
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A lot of Yankee fans see Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins as a player Brian Cashman should pursue. He’s one of the finest young hitters in the game.
But check out this story by Jorge Arangure Jr of ESPN The Magazine. As Jorge points out, Cabrera is looking more like a lineman than a third baseman these days.
Cabrera needs to stop with the fast food.
Cabrera would be great as a DH or maybe LF/RF if he “slims” to “222″ He’s rumoured to have a strong enough arm for it. Plus, there’s always the 1B slot. Young is the way to go. I’d give up some pretty significant players for him, not Hughes, Joba, or Kennedy. Cabrera is as good as it gets.
He reported to 265 this year. He refused to be weighed by the Marlins after his initial weigh in. He “says” he is down to 250 now (still 30 pounds overweight) but, there is no proof he has lost any weight.
Ozzie Guillen, a former coach with the Marlins, a countryman, and one of the few people Cabrera actually listens to, saw him when the Marlins played the White Sox this year, took him aside, and read him the riot act.
He’s real immature, but a great, great hitter. Personally, I think he has a better chance to be Raul Mondesi than Roberto Clemente.
Its going to take a guy like Ozzie to straighten him out.
Its a shame because he has monster talent. But, without greater discipline, he will never reach his potential.
Funny comment by John Heyman in his “SI article”:http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....oop/1.html
“I understand that there are Web sites dedicated to eradicating Joe Morgan from the airwaves. If that’s true, I’d just like to know where to sign up.”
Young is the way to go, however I don’t see Cabrera working well with the Yankees. And Sunny, thats incredible. You’d think ESPN would get some guys better than those two bozos talking about absolutly nothing every Sunday night.
The most important take away to me from the article is Cabrera is a bad defensive thrid baseman and getting consistently worse. His defensive liabilities are sufficient to keep him out of the same category as A-Rod. Yeah, he just might be a better hitter than A-Rod in 2010, but I seriously doubt he will be a better complete BASEBALL player than A-Rod. I think people forget to consider that element with A-Rod: he literally can do everything on the baseball field and works harder than anyone else off it. He respects his talent and wants to absolutely maximize. He’s a lot like Jordan. Born with other-worldly talent, but also has the work ethic of the scrappy gym rat who has to try twice as hard to do half as much as everyone else. It’s absolutely unique.
I really hope things work out and we get to see the second half of what could potentially be one of the best careers in baseball history.
Is this going to be a trend for the Marlins? Livan Hernandez had the same problem when he was with them. Lol!
SJ44,
Mondesi?
You’re nuts. Aside from Pujols, there’s no one under 30 in the game I’d more confidently lay money on becoming a Hall of Famer than Miguel Cabrera.
His hitting to this point in his career slots nicely between names like Hank Aaron and Orlando Cepeda. OPS+ through age 23 over the last 70 years… Hank is sixth on that list at 143, Cabrera 141, Cepeda 137. (Pujols is second at 167, distant second to Ted Williams at 191.)
All-time great players put their stamp on the game *early*, almost as a rule.
i’m not a huge joe morgan fan, but that comment strikes me as ridiculously unprofessional. whatever.
Funny thing is on FireJoeMorgan.com they ocassionally rip Heyman’s articles.
You think Heyman’s comment was funny? After I saw that I went to FireJoeMorgan.Com and they ripped apart Lupica’s article today. Can Lupica be any more obvious in his hating the Yankees? I feel bad for his sons having to grow up with a person that hateful. One thing I disagree with the Fire… site is that it lumps Lupica in with Yankee fans, not realizing that Lupica is trying to drive A Rod to leave. It couldn’t be any more obvious.
They can get Cabrera when hes a free agent and not have to give up anything for him. Why the rush especially when you have the games best player?
They should have fired Joe Morgan ten years ago.
He’s one of the worst announcers in the game. The only way he gets the boot is if he touches the interns like Harold Reynolds.
He keeps playing at 265, or heavier, he can forget about a HOF career.
He is a great talent. But, nobody, not even Miguel Cabrera, can spend a career playing 40 pounds overweight and spending more time partying than playing baseball.
He’s young enough to change. However, if he doesn’t, instead of talking about his HOF career, we will be talking about wasted talent.
Here is my question of the day.Regarding the suspended game. The only 2 pitchers not available to be used are Wang and Viz (as per MLB suspended game rules). Peter has Joe said how he is going to handle this game yet? Do we know whose throw day it is and who is scheduled to start the regular game? I believe it is Igawa who one never knows how longe he will go) so might it make sense to save the bullpen for the night game and use whomever’s throw day it is (unless of course it is Wang’s) who would not be available.
Calling the best hitter under 25 “Raul Mondesi” is hilarious.
Compare their stats.
But I don’t expect anything less from SJ44. I wonder if he still wants to trade Cano and say the Yanks won’t make a run???
Cabrera’s a dog.
Here is something worth mentioning. Cabrera’s top 10 of players on BP of Similar Batters through Age 23:
Hank Aaron (959) *
Orlando Cepeda (933) *
Frank Robinson (925) *
Joe Medwick (920) *
Mickey Mantle (914) *
Ken Griffey (907)
Andruw Jones (907)
Hal Trosky (905)
Vladimir Guerrero (900)
Al Kaline (900) *
That’s a pretty solid list right?
Pudgy or not.
I think I’d let him rake for me any day of the week.
firejoemorgan.com
cabrera is a monster but is he yankee material ? drop 20-30 pounds , mature a little bit and i think he could be .
One question I have about the transfers of the various pitchers – - – It would appear to me that they are putting the “Not availables” in one place and the “Get’em while they’re hots” in the other.
So send all of the scouts from the Rangers, Dodgers and whoever else to Scranton where they can do one stop shopping at the pitcher buffet. If we can get Tex for Proctor/Farnsy, and Clipp/Wright, then I am going to do cartwheels.
Any thoughts?
Who says hes 40 lbs overweight right now?
Did these writers weigh him?
Is it effecting his hitting???
Hitting 335 with 20 ding dongs and on pace for 100 rbi’s
I doubt it.
with all the talk of trading tex, what about clippard and rasner? think they’d go for it?
Cabrera is a flat-out, future HOF stud.
No one in the NL can hit like him. And he’s already got a title under his belt and hes carrying a team that has had no business the past 2 years of even competing.
Yankee material?
I would hope so.
Or if we get him are these the same jerks who will boo him for 3 years even if he goes out there and plays hard everyday and gives 100% effort?
A Kennedy package gets it done for Tex.
Done deal if his name comes up.
I also think a Clippard, Proctor, Wright package gets it done.
Texas needs pitching. Cheap pitching.
You do know Cabrera is 23 years old. Young men do grow and become bigger. He may outgrow 3b and have to play 1b.
With his bat it won’t matter where he plays.
I dont think anyone is questioning his talents.But if he
has weight problems,how long before he starts breaking
down? What possition do you play him? Does he become the
next Ortiz,Giambi(DH).
Karstens is doing well in the minors and has proven to
be a descent big league pitcher.How about using him as
a chip for Tex?
Flip; just my opinion but I don’t believe SJ144 was calling the best hitter under 25 “Raul Mondesi”. My intrepretation from the SJ144 entry was if Cabrera continues to ‘supersize it’ everytime he prowls around Micky D, he will turn out to be a Raul Mondesi…. high on potential and hype, but ultimately not fulfilling expectations.
Mondesi I don’t think was ever projected as a HOF, even as a ROY. However, he was projected to be a star, which he actually was for a couple of years.
Cabrera has been projected for a much higher ceiling.
you have to give somebody good to get somebody good. so forget about clippard , wright and proctor for miggy cabrera . think more along the lines of kennedy and another prospect for cabrera . it goes the same for tiexiera too . all these teams want phil of the future anyway .
“Personally, I think he has a better chance to be Raul Mondesi than Roberto Clemente.”
That’s what SJ44 said. He’s saying he’s Mondesi. Clemente won’t have anything on him by the time he finishes up.
I’m saying the stats say and his play says he’s so far out of that league its beyond ridiculous.
Ortiz is overweight. Do you not want him hitting in your lineup?
Florida is not trading Miggy this year so forget it. He’s a FA pretty soon anyway since he came up when he was 18/19.
If Cabrera cuts down his weight, he could continue on his HOF path. I heard he gained his weight while tending to his father who was seriously sick back in his home country. I don’t want him though. You’ll have to give up the kitchen sink just for them to listen. I don’t like Tex either. He’s too STREAKY for my liking. Just get a bench player (Betemit) and a bullpen arm (Greinke, Ryan Franklin) and call it a day.
Cabrera’s projections are not based on just raw ability or minor league stats or scouting reports, he has proven he is one of the game’s top hitters, over a large sample, in his very early twenties. The guy is a sure fire first ballot hall of fame talent.
That being said, he is immature, but he’s young. When the rumors surfaced a few weeks ago (from nomaas.org) about trading for him, I stated on this blog I thought he wouldn’t be a good fit with the Yankees, because of his maturity issues. In a couple of years, when he becomes a free agent, he will be older, wiser, and probably have figured out if he keeps his weight down he will be looking at 250 million dollars. At that point, you go for him as hard as you can, if you’re the Yankees, but it seems to me he would shy away from NY and prefer to hang out somewhere like Florida, with a more laid back atmosphere. That’s just a guess, though. When a guy hits like that, his defense is irrelevant. DH him, stick him at first, or let him play a bad 3B or LF (if his weight is down), point is, who cares? The guy can rake.
I think M Cabrera could be 320 pounds and still lead the league in hitting. Have you ever watched him hit? With Josh WIllingham as his protection, keep in mind.
He has all time stats and he’s not even 25 yet.
He’ll be another 250 mill player when he hits the market. I don’t care how many Big Mac’s he downs.
No player can rake like him.
I still don’t understand why pitchers even pitch to him with those guys in that lineup behind him. Same with Vlad. And Pujols. Why throw those guys a strike?
someone needs to make a firejoebuck.com
Raul Mondesi on his best day wasn’t half the hitter Miggy is at 23 years old.
This is not a case of a young guy struggling. A young flash in the pan.
This is a guy who has hit and hit well and hit consistently. For years now. This isn’t a waste of talent here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=2947494
“Executives with other teams believe that the Texas Rangers are definitely intent on trading first baseman Mark Teixeira before the July 31 trade deadline”
Cash just has to wait and bide his time, they’re getting desperate in Arlington.
Joe Buck I don’t mind because we did win 4 titles with him announcing games.
There is no GM worse than Daniels in Texas. He has made terrible move after terrible move. I don’t care about his age. He’s horrendous.
He traded Soriano for spare parts. He traded 2 starting OF’s and a top relief arm for a rental OF.
He traded a Cy Young candidate and a young stud 1b for a FA to be coming off arm issues in Eaton.
He hired a “players manager” who fights with his best player within a week.
He’ll screw up the Tex trade thing too. So, yes, they may get him for Clippard and some B prospects.
Get them to throw in Gagne to the Tex deal. We need another arm.
Cabrera’s baseball reference page has him at 185 lbs. So I guess the guy currently playing third for the marlins is the guy who ate Miguel Cabrera.
“An admirer had a vase of flowers delivered to Duncan in the clubhouse yesterday afternoon. Concerned that his teammates would give him a hard time, he put the flowers over the locker of Andy Phillips.
“You have to ask Andy where those came from,” he said.”
lolololol
No, I am not saying he is Mondesi. I am saying IF he continues to eat himself out of shape, he WILL become Mondesi.
Why is that so hard to comprehend?
The most foolhardy exercise people who crave stats carry on, is taking one’s career and playing it out as if there are no bumps in the road.
It wasn’t that long ago Andruw Jones was going to be the “Next Willie Mays”. Played CF “better than Mays”, according to some, had more hits and HR’s at certain age standpoints, etc.
Unfortunately, as Jones’ waistline expanded, his skills diminished. Now, in his walk year, he is still overweight and having his worst season. He’s still a young guy.
I am saying that if Cabrera doesn’t get a handle on his weight, he has a chance of having the same fate happen to him.
I don’t think Andruw has diminished because his waistline. I think he has too much muscle on his body and his mechanics and approach at the plate is horrible.
SJ; that was my intrepretation of your comments regarding Cabrera. I had no problem understanding that.
BTW, IMO, no way in hell the Marlins move Cabrera for less than an elite prospect and an elite position player. Not happening. He is the face of the franchise, especially now that Willis is far more hype than performance.
21,
I agree.
He’s one player that isn’t going for a package of nobodies. Unless they want to part with Hughes, Chamberlain and more, its a pipedream to think he is going to be traded to the Yankees.
It would take a lot to get Cabrera, sure, but under the right circumstances (ie, need), he is one of the top three acquisitions possible in terms of hitters.
To bring in a guy that young and with a bright future ahead would be great.
Waistline-wise, its one year that he has turned up a bit bulky. Say what you want, but he still swings a mean bat.
I bet he takes the scrutiny this year and comes back next year with a vengeance minus 30 pounds.
And I say to hell with Mark Texieria. He can go to Boston for all I care, ain’t worth breaking the bank for.
I guarantee that within 4 days the asking price is cut in half.