There's no question Chavez's catch was incredible. I saw that one live too. The thing with Cabrera's that I re-realized last night after watching the film of it again is that Cabrera pulled a Jordan-esque move on it. He took to the air at the grass edge of the warning track, and sailed over the fence to steal it. It was an incredible play overall, and highly unlikely. There is film on MLB.com of a number of amazing catches, so it's not like there isn't comepetition to the play, but when you look at just what Melky did on the play, you have to give him the edge.
The Melky catch was nice but he Chavez catch nearly sent the Mets to the WS- it was on a much bigger stage and therefore a bigger catch.
Not sure why he's surprised by the silence. A-Rod saying he would retire at the end of his contract garnered a lot of media attention... when he said it in 2004.
Are you watching the same clip I am? He took to the air at the edge of the grass? He sailed over the fence? LOL! I see his feet touch the dirt of the warning track at least 7 times before he "takes to the air" and reaches his hand up. Jordan-esque?!?!? I think the Gary Matthews Jr catch was the best of the year.
http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17598316&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478568&rfi=6 It will be a tough call for Cashman, whether or not Proctor goes in. Gonzalez is obviously better than Melky and Proctor when stacked against them individually, but I'm not positive he's worth both of them. If the trade goes down, I certainly wouldn't dislike it. It would give us a great power L-R set-up combination (Farnsworth 10.23 K/9 last year, 10+ last 4 years; Gonzalez 10.58 K/9). It would also show you that Cashman isn't trying to overvalue his own players. Melky is a good 4th OFer, but he'll never be a full-time starter here. Proctor isn't as good as he was last year, he'll regress back into a 4.2-4.3 ERA type pitcher. With that said, it would be tremendous if we could get Gonzalez for Melky and one of our other arms. It might take Cox or Britton, or Beam. Imagine this back of the bullpen: Bruney Proctor Farnsworth Gonzalez Rivera Sweet baby Jesus.
Melky's catch prevented Manny Ramirez from single-handedly tying the game, in a game where we were mostly dominated by Sox pitching. I think you are discounting the value of the catch simply on the basis that it was during the regular season. Not only did it save the game, but it was also an phenominally athletic play overall. Very few ML left fielders even get to the track on that ball, much less take a huge leap and get over the fence to steal the ball. Even Manny was totally shocked.
Yeah, you are absolutely right. I watched the YouTube of it and realized I was wrong. Just didn't bother to post it. You caught me, oh well. 7 steps on dirt is quite an exaggeration there yourself though. And yeah, I just saw the Matthews catch, and to be quite honest, it was better than the Melky and Chavez catches.
I have two issues with this trade. 1) Everyone knows how I feel about trading Melky. He's a kid, and either Matsui or Damon will retire long before his useful years are done. I'm not going to continue getting into it about him, but I still think that by trading him for anyone save a top-tier starter (even if it takes other guys to make a deal) it's more valuable to us to keep him in the fold. Matsui and Damon have both proven they can hit the ball in October, so it's not a question that they are higher on the depth chart for at least the next year, but at some point, age is going to play into it, and let's be totally honest, with those two in the outfield, we have one of the worst defensive units in baseball. I'm tired of the obsession with offensive stats. You have to be able to protect leads at some point. Case in point, the Melky catch. Matsui is not even at the warning track when that ball hits the ground. 2) How many closers are we going to turn into setup men? At what point do we address the issues with middle relief. If we assume that the starting rotation is Wang, Pettite, Moose, Johnson, and Pavano, the average age of our starting rotation is an astounding 34.2 years old, right now! Sure, Wang is much younger than any of them. Even Pavano is 30, so Wang is actually pulling the average age way down with his young 26 age. Right now, we have this staring us in the face for ST: Johnson: 43 Moose: 38 Pettitte: 34 Pavano: 30 Wang: 26 We need guys in the pen who can throw 2-3 innings every day. Otherwise, we're in for a really long season.
I agree he can be a valuable asset, but when the opportunity presents itself to improve the team, you can't let emotions get in the way. The only people who wouldn't trade Melky and one of the AAA arms for Gonzalez are people who overvalue their own players way too much. Cabrera's a useful player to have on this team, decent offense and good defense, but he's not Gonzalez. I'm not sure what you mean by "obsession with offensive stats". In terms of overall value (factoring in offense and defense), Melky is the 4th most productive player on the team. Surely you're not suggesting Melky is more valuable to the team than Matsui? Melky is a better defensive player, but overall, Matsui is worth more runs to the Yankees than Melky. Same with Damon and Abreu. I also don't see him as a long-term starter for the Yankees, ever. A lot would have to happen for him to be a starter. One of the spots is reserved for Tabata, and I refuse to believe the Yankees will not fill another spot thru free agency. That leaves the last spot, and other prospects in the system (Jackson, Curtis, Gardner if his power continues to develop) that project to be better than him. What exactly is wrong with making Gonzalez (who really was only a closer for one year) into a set-up man? Is there some evidence that this would be bad? As far as avoiding turning closers into set-up men, and instead going out and getting guys who can handle a heavy workload, I disagree. Adding Gonzalez pushes everyone in the bullpen down a peg, which directly improves the middle relief. If there's a guy out there with a 4.00 ERA who eats a lot of innings, that's nice. But if there's also a guy out there with a 2.75 ERA, who can slide in as a set-up man, push everyone down and increase the depth of bullpen (providing more options and thus lessening the workload on everyone), I would take option 2. It sounded to me like you would prefer a situation like option 1. Can't say I agree with that logic.
Well, seems like Melky is done with us. Read it at NYYNews.com and I guess I should be happy. Melky was an average player anyway with plus fielding. He was an average hitter, Tabata and Urena have a higher ceiling than Melky and I'm glad he's going somewhere he can get full playing time.
I think this Gonzalez rumor is picking up steam, but NYYNews.com doesn't have the greatest history when it comes to news and rumors. There's still some work to be done, Yankees are looking over Gonzalez's tendonitis issue from this past season.
If we trade Melky for Gonzalez, I will be sad and miss Cabrera. If we trade Melky and Proctor for Gonzalez, I will find Brian Cashman and punch him in the stomach.
I like Gonzalez. He is a top notch closer and would be an asset in the BP but he also didnt pitch the last few months due to elbow tendenitis. I do believe that Melky can be a star in the league. His offense will continue to improve as he gets older and getting rid of him now would be a mistake but using him as a 4th OF is also a mistake if he stays. He needs to and should start but sadly there is just no room for him.
Damn it. You are exactly right. 7 steps exactly. Every time I see the play it doesn't look as good as it did before. Thanks a lot. You're making it very hard for me to be an obsessive Yankee fan.:wink:
