Today in The Journal News
-
- April
- 28
Jorge Posada is on the disabled list for the first time in his career and wants a clear answer as to what is wrong with his shoulder.
Chien-Ming Wang dominated the Indians and Melky Cabrera provided the only run he needed as the Yankees won 1-0.
Back later with the lineup.
This entry was posted
on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Peter Abraham
i miss you already georgie!
So, how about that Chipper Jones suffering back pain while talking to Jon Heyman?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/04/28/heyman.gmhotseat/1.html
They had an interesting look into how Melky and Wang have changed their games this season and how they’ve improved over at the RLYB:
Melky is hitting more line drives this year and working deeper into the count.
Wang – using his slider much more (using his change up less actually) and is now striking out more hitters than league average.
http://www.replacementlevel.com/index.php/RLYW/comments/wang_and_melky
Does anyone know where I can find the interview translated by Cano with Cabrera from yesterday?
If he did it on WCBS after the game you can usually find it in the archive of mlb.com listening to yesterdays game just fast forward lol
Me too Jay.
Hopefully we are getting this injury bug out of the way and will be healthy the rest of the season.
Remember in the spring when Kevin Long said Melky was way ahead of last year swinging from the right side? Seems like he was right.
Melky is hitting the ball much harder from the right side so far this year. He’s improving every day.
Think about it. He’s 23 years old. He plays a quality CF. Nobody runs on him and if you notice, he’s taking better routes to the ball this year and taking charge on flyballs like he never did in the past.
Aside from a few brain cramps, his AB’s are of much higher quality this year.
I don’t have the stats in front of me but, just judging from what I have seen, I bet he is seeing more pitches per AB than last year.
Add to it, his workouts with Arod have not only made him stronger, its given him a lot more confidence. You can see it in the way he carries himself. He acts like he knows he belongs now. That’s important for a young player.
Its why Cashman was smart not to make the Santana deal. It wasn’t about the money. If Santana was a FA, they would have given him whatever he wanted.
Its the combination of money AND players, such as Hughes and Melky, that made that deal unworkable.
If you wait one off-season, and CC Sabathia wants to break the bank, the Yankees can give him whatever he wants and just lose a draft pick. Its better than losing your best young starter and their starting CF in a trade.
Hey, what’d I miss?
(Oh. Damn you, endless church meeting!!!)
***
The Wanger reminds me of Barbara Walters (just follow me a sec). Someone once said of her, “Loyal friend, funny, generous, all-around good person, but inside, deep inside, lies the heart of an assassin.†Mess with Babs, and you’ll be sorry.
Heart of an assassin. That’s the Wanger. I think we should continue to say he’s not an ace. Seriously. Takes the pressure off him and makes it more fun for us. That way, every year, he can win, like, 19 games, and we’ll still get to sit around and talk about why wins are not a good stat to judge a pitcher, how his K/9 is too low, how we need a true ace, internal like Chamberlain or a hired gun like CC, etc etc. His Hall of Fame plaque can read something like, “Won a ton of games, but, you know, not a true ace. Still, we figured 300 wins means something, so we let him in.â€
Only on this blog can someone compare Wang to Barbara Walters.
With Wang, its clear that spending the spring working on his secondary pitches has made him a much better pitcher.
He was throwing sliders, changeups and splits in counts where it would have been turbo sinker after turbo sinker last year.
Guys just couldn’t center his pitches yesterday.
He also made an adjustment he never would have made last year. His stuff was almost too good yesterday. The movement he had on his sinker was really preventing him from keeping it in the zone.
Instead of continuing to throw it, he made the adjustment by throwing his secondary pitches more early in the game. That got him back in rhythm and was able to find the feel on the turbo sinker later in the game.
He’s just matured into being a much more complete pitcher.
Honestly, I didn’t think he would be able to do it. I am really glad I was wrong.
“Nobody runs on him and if you notice”
This I haven’t noticed. Seems to me opponents have little fear of running on him. More disturbing is that he’s not been terribly accurate with his throws so far this year.
“I don’t have the stats in front of me but, just judging from what I have seen, I bet he is seeing more pitches per AB than last year.”
He is. He’s seeing 11% more pitches this year than last year (0.4 more pitches per at bat in terms of absolute numbers).
He’s now over 4 pitches per at bat.
Melky has a .536 slugging percentage and an .831 OPS against left handed pitchers this year.
Last year – he had a .324 slugging percentage with an .641 OPS.
Again these are all small samples given how early it is in the year and the fact that they haven’t faced that much left handed pitching.
But so far Melky’s improvement against left handed pitching has been phenomenal.
And it’s not just in the numbers – you can just see it in his at bats.
No way he hits a home run off a tough lefty like Sabbathia last year. No way.
fun fact:
Melky has 20 career HRs.
13 have been hit against AL Central opponents.
“He’s seeing 11% more pitches this year than last year ”
From a hitting perspective this can be attributed to 2 reasons.
One, just being more confident hitting behind in the count (abreu, giambi). As a young player or any player for that matter, psychologically its more difficult hitting in pitcher’s counts. As his confidence rises, he’ll be able to take more pitches early and foul off tougher pitches later on in the count.
Secondly, as he gets better, pitchers will not tend to go after him as they would your traditional 8-9 hitter.
“No way he hits a home run off a tough lefty like Sabbathia last year. No way.”
In truth, the pitch Melky hit had nothing on it. Even Cano could have hit that one out.
You do have to appreciate the improvement in his AB’s though. I thought he went backwards last year (from where he was in ‘06) and to see him work at his craft and, at least early on, get results is a good thing. I don’t see him slugging .500 all year, but he’ll improve on his career .396 to be sure.
So hmmm, that stat says that Melky might want a balanced schedule, or that the Twins proved yet again they made a mistake not pulling the trigger on a trade.
“13 have been hit against AL Central opponents.”
Tell that to Bill Smith…
Carlos Gonzalez has a .271 OBP with a .613 OPS.
A few comments on Melky,
First, and this bears repeating, I’m glad I was wrong about Melky. I had him (along with everyone else in the world) as a 4th outfielder. If he keeps this up, he’ll have proved everyone wrong.
Second, when I follow on Gameday, I see Melky getting some good, long AB. 6, 7, 8 pitches. To me that shows me that, not only does he have a good eye, but that he’s determined as well.
Third, if you watch the replay of his homerun, you’ll see that it was not a meatball served over the plate. Melky actually lunges a bit, gets the bat under the ball, and punishes it. Not the most beautiful thing, but beautiful nonetheless.
There’s a bit of the Little Engine that Could in Melky. Something the vets had when they were young and had to prove themselves. I can see the value of having young guys like that to push themselves and, hopefully, the vets, too.
Great day for Melky and Wang, yesterday.
Who’s on deck for today?
“In truth, the pitch Melky hit had nothing on it. Even Cano could have hit that one out.”
Melky had a .324 slugging percentage against left handed pitching last year.
That is not just bad – it is basically no power from the right side of the plate.
And the pitch he hit out was a change up. Sabbathia left it out over the plate but the more important thing was that Melky hit the pitch hard.
Most home runs come off of mistake pitches.
What are the chances of NOT signing Sabathia in the off season?
What are the chances of Petitte signing for another year or two?
What are the chances of signing both? Let’s say Pettitte signs for even just one year –
Wang (1 year better)
Pettitte
Sabathia
Joba Being Joba
Hughes (1 year older and better)
Kennedy (1 year older and wiser and better)
Would that be good, feasible, realistic?
Kennedy would be the first starter to come in when something goes not according to plan with 1 of the first 5. If Pettitte was just a 1-year deal That puts Kennedy squarely in the ritation in ‘10.
I have no idea what Pettitte would want in terms of length of contract if he wanted to come back at all.
If there was no deal with Sabathia, there would be 5 home grown pitchers in the rotation next year. Good ones too.
With or without Sabathia in the mix, having the pitching set up like that would allow for signing/trading for a real 1B, and setting the team up for life after Matsui/Damon/Abreu in the OF 2-3 years from now. And in the bullpen.
Sounds like Jesus Montero might be in the process of eliminating the need for finding Posada’s eventual replacement.
OK let’s assume Posada misses some time this year (even if its all year) and comes back to C next year. Who in the know (CB? SJ? Anyone?) knows if Montero could develop defensively as a C quickly enough to become Posada’s full-time backup in ‘10 (while being a DH) then take over behind the plate while Posada moves to DH/backup C for his final year?
Or is Montero likely to need the playing time in the minors more in 3 years?
“Or is Montero likely to need the playing time in the minors more in 3 years?”
Ansky,
Defensively I think Montero will take 3 years to develop properly. He will not be 19 until November 2008. That’s how young he is.
So even in 3 years – he’ll only be 21.
I could see his bat being ready in 2 years.
But defensively he’s going to need time. It’s such a hard position to play.
It’s worth it being patient at him.
If Montero blossoms at catcher – he will be one of the most valuable players in the entire game because he’ll be so much better than the average catcher in the league.
Alright. Where to start?
1. Melky is not hitting more line drives this year. He is right at his career norms and his line drive rate is less than it was last year. CB – interesting that you’d quote a page that shows that his line drive rate is down, and say that it shows that he’s hitting more line drives this year. I’m a little confused.
2. Everyone needs to gain some perspective. We’re talking about one month. Last July, Melky hit .368 and had a .939 OPS.
3. Melky is hitting more HR because a) he’s hitting more fly balls (in general, not a great thing for a player like Melky), and b) he has a ridiculous 20.8 % HR/fly ball rate. This is completely unsustainable. Last year, 7 players had a rate that high. Their names? Cust, Howard, Thome, Pena, Rodriguez, Fielder, Dunn. Think Melky is a power hitter now and belongs in that group? If so, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
4. I too have not been impressed with his throws (at least when compared to last season), and have no reason to believe that his routes are better (to be fair, I have no reason to believe they are worse).
People just really need to know what a small sample size is. Yes, I love Melky. Yes, I expected him to improve this year, and a moderate uptick in power is very reasonable.
That all said, he’s certainly a valuable player. Offense that’s a bit above average at a position like CF is great. But this excitement and lavish praise not justified.
PETE, PLEASE ASK WANG TO CONTROL WIGHT AND SO DO YOU. HAHA!