Friday, August 15, 2008

Melky Sent to Triple A, Sexson Gone

According to Peter Abraham, it appears the Yankees have optioned Melky Cabrera to Scranton, and have let Sexson go. In a corresponding move the Yankees are bringing up Brett Gardner and infielder Cody Ransom. Sexson for Ransom I can understand. Sexson was a first baseman who had lost his pop, and we could stand to gain a real utility infielder due to the lapse known as Wilson Betemit. Now Melky for Gardner I'm not so sure about. Don't get me wrong, Melky was awful, and he needed to get sent down to the minors no question. But does someone in the Yankee upper management really believe that Brett Gardner can hit better than Melky? The man is fast, which is great, but he is much worse at the plate than Melky. I mean, for a supposed contact hitter, he struck out 17 times in 59 at bats. Not to mentioned that he drew only 5 walks. His speed is null and void unless he can get on base, and the fact of the matter is that we already have a late inning base runner in Justin Christian. With Damon, Nady and Abreu, we basically have the outfield on lock, so Christian and Gardner become the 4th and 5th outfielders respectively. That's a lot of inexperience in two extra outfielders. So again, I believe Melky should be in the minors, but they needed to come up with a better call than Gardner. As long as they're bringing up players who won't have an impact on this team, why don't they bring back Shelley? At least he gives the team good energy, and might hit a couple out of the park. Just a thought.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Historic C&C Homerun Chase has come to an early conclusion. Do you think Leche will find one of Krazy Kyle's knives impaling him on the bus ride down to Scranton?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

It's possible. Maybe then he'll finally hit. We'll have to wait and see.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean the historic run by cano and Cabrera to capture Jeter's homerun title is all but over?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

we'll have to see. maybe Melky comes back rejuvinated and destroys the record in one day, no one inning. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Anonymous said...

Jeter's homerun title? It sounds like something from one of the millions of parallel universes.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Who would have thought the C & C boys would have their worst seasons of their young careers? It just goes to show how difficult it is to break Derek Jeter's single season homerun record....set by Derek Jeter.

Anonymous said...

I guess Cashman wants to give Gardner a shot to see if he can survive in bigs,if not he really needs to trade a cf or chase a free agent....I think the move is not for the playoff,it's a try for next year.....

Anonymous said...

I didn't think Gardner was going to come up and be the everyday CF, so it surprised me to hear that he's not just up since the minor league season is almost over and that he would be another pinch runner/defensive replacement. The guy could be really good, but he needs to work on his plate approach and especially his swing. You're supposed to actually use your body in your swing, kid. That said, he's a good fielder, decent arm, and terrific speed. Not something I'd give up on just yet.

Sending Melky down makes perfect sense to me. He was shocked to learn he'd been sent down, which leads me to believe that he'd taken his spot on the big league club for granted. He's been horrendous at the plate and doesn't have enough speed to hang around. You shouldn't be able to have a .296 OBP in 401 at-bats and remain in the big leagues. He's 4th outfielder at best right now. What I'm hoping this will do is snap Cano to life, but that doesn't appear to be the case just yet, as his sloppy, nonchalant play in the field continued today. Difference is he's got a big league contract, so the only other thing to do is rip him a new one on a daily basis.

The move I don't quite understand is Ransom for Sexson. Yes, Sexson was expendable, but it's not really an upgrade. Ransom's glove might be better than Betemit, but Sexson did his job here in the field and against lefties at the plate. So I just shrug at that move.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I'm not opposed to seeing what we got in Gardner, but you're right in saying he needs to use more of his body in his swing. He's only swinging with his upper half. Either way, Gardner had another walk off hit today. That should be a good confidence booster.

Remember when Melky started this season, and jumped out to 7 homeruns real quick? I thought he was going to reach 20 this season. Just shows how quickly a season can fall apart for a young player. I do think he took his major league position for granted. I hope he learns from this, but right now I'm just hoping they give Moose a win tomorrow.