12/11/08

No Melky Way

According to Mark Feinsand, the Yankee are set to trade Melky Cabrera to Milwaukee for Mike Cameron. I assume there may be other players in the deal as the Brewers are known to want pitching. Cameron would be our stopgap center fielder so that Austin Jackson can have a full season at triple A before coming to the bigs. Melky had a terrbile year offensively, and was practically an automatic out at the plate. However, his defense was tremendous and he brought a great energy to the game. Melky has been possibly my favorite player since he arrived at the big league level, and it will be sad to see him go. I wish him the best of luck in Milwaukee.

Cameron will be 35 in January. In 08 he slugged .477 with an OBP of .331. That isn't particularly impressive. His OBP is almost 90 points higher than his average(.243), but it is a number that should be a batting average, not an on base percentage. Granted, it is an improvement over Cabrera's .301 OBP, but getting on base only 1/3 of the time is not good. Let's hope his numbers here improve(although they were close to his career norms). The good news about Cameron is that he has power(25 home runs in 08), decent speed(17 stolen bases in 08), and will most certainly help transition CC Sabathia to New York as the two developed a strong friendship in Milwaukee. Welcome to the Bronx Mike.

UPDATE: The deal is not a sure thing and may not happen, according to Joel Sherman.
UPDATE: Interesting notes from the Tyler Kepner article: The Brewers asked about Kei Igawa. That is hillarious. But, in reality, I think they just would prefer his contract to Bill Hall's. And they need pitching and could possibly use the triple A all star instead of their constantly complaining 3rd baseman. Apparently, the Yanks want Hall to be a backup infielder. I really don't think he would settle for a part time job, as he complained about it in Milwaukee. But, maybe a part time job is acceptable if he gets to play for the most storied franchise in the history of sports. Or perhaps...this is pure speculation, but perhaps the Yankees have a trade set up involving Robinson Cano(which would have to be for pitching if they are going to get Cameron) and they plan on using Hall at 2nd. However, I don't think that's likely. Still, I don't understand the interest in Hall. He hits .225, slugs .396, and has an OBP of .293 and we want to trade for him?

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