Each day, "Piss and Wynegar" will present Yankees "player previews" for the coming 2008 season. In what can only be referred to as a "revelatory" strategy, we will use statistics, as well as opinion, to further our analysis.Ah, Melky. Average, average, Melky. It is with great skepticism that we welcome Mr. Cabrera back to the Yankees starting lineup, having avoided being shipped to Minnesota for Johan Santana in a deal that, inexplicably, Bombers fans rejected en masse. The question is: why? Melky’s popularity is baffling. He tracks balls awkwardly in the outfield, doesn’t walk (he trailed only Robinson Cano in fewest BB’s amongst starters), has no power to speak of, and had an OBP of only .327 (worse than Mr. Cano who, as just mentioned, actually walked fewer times than the Milk Man).
There remains an expectation that Cabrera will suddenly shed his caterpillar exterior and become the beautiful butterfly of our dreams, but the likelihood of that gets smaller and smaller with each passing day. Virtually every “analyst” who speaks of Melky labels him as a 4th outfielder, and yet here he is, starting every day in the most hallowed of Yankee Stadium positions. While 73 RBI from a guy hitting in the bottom 1/3 of the order looks perfectly fine, we can’t help but feel that the Melkster has somehow cast a spell upon New York City that enables mediocrity to pass as star-quality talent. In short, we expect more of the same from Cabrera this year: a few outfield assists and a lot of pedestrian offence. But, he does do those fun dances in the dugout when guys hit homeruns!
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