Giants trade Jonathan Sanchez to Royals

[TKellion]

Melky Cabrera may not cut it in CF but lets give him a chance and see how he hits.Sure he posted career #s in KC but he is just 27 YO.He is just entering his prime and last years output at the plate could be more indicative of what we can expext from him then his early years in NY or Atlanta.I watched many games when he was in NY getting two out hits for RBIs and game winning hits.You may decide you like having this kid around.

 

[iHATEdodgers]

I think Nate would be a MUCH better CF than Melky, but I have some problems with that idea.

1) Nate is far and away the team's best RF and putting Melky in right will not help the defense at all.

2) Assuming SF does re-sign Beltran, I am afraid that Bochy will bend to Beltran's wishes and put Melky in left and Beltran in right. We all saw what a disaster that guy was in right field last year. I don't want to see him back out there for 125-140 games in 2012.

Beltran wanted to play RF for the Giants in '11 so he would be viewed (for some reason) as more valuable in free agency. Maybe I'm wrong, but what does that matter now? He got his wish and played a below average RF for us, he's not fooling anybody he's a LF now. He's going to get the same contract in LF that he would in RF - teams will pay for his stick not his D.

In fact he is more valuable to the Giants in LF and if they are going to make a serious run at him I would be shocked if they didn't with the intention of putting him in LF. I'd be surprised if any team signs him to play RF.

 

[tzill]

This, from Fangraphs:

There are certainly reasons to believe Cabrera will regress in 2012. His BABIP of .332 is a career high and there is little reason to believe he is like an Ichiro Suzuki or a Matt Kemp and can routinely sustain such good results on balls in play. His power level (44 doubles, 18 home runs, a .162 ISO) was also previously unseen, blasting his old career highs out of the water.

This would be a particularly massive red flag if Cabrera were just finishing his age 32 season like a certain Giants center fielder one year ago. But Cabrera will be a mere 27 years old for much of the 2012 season, putting him in his prime for the year of control the Giants now own and any potential contract extension the Giants may offer.

I think that sums it up pretty nicely. Moreover, I seriously doubt they could have done better for Chez -- too inconsistent, too fragile, too moody, variable velocity, due $5MM in 2012. Nope, he had to go and if we get 3.0 WAR out of Melky it's win/win.

 

[filosofy29]

I liked this quote:

"The Giants see a player coming into his prime who finally learned the value of conditioning. Cabrera said his career year was a result of weight training in Miami, which he'll do again this winter. He used Alex Rodriguez's batting cage."

Makes you wonder about ARod only juicing from 2003-2005.....

 

[calsnowskier]

Makes you wonder about ARod only juicing from 2003-2005.....

ARod's "batting cage"?

Is that the kids are calling it these days?