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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

Tell that to Bill Smith…

Carlos Gonzalez has a .271 OBP with a .613 OPS.

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.

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.