I'm Willing To Give Melky The Benefit Of The Doubt

Back 9:

1. Some have claimed I'm too harsh on Melky Cabrera. The truth is that I love the Melk Man. He got off to one of the roughest starts when the Yankees first brought him up as a very, very young man in a forgettable series in Fenway. And he's had times where he's looked focused at the plate. But I always felt that the Yankees handed everything to him too easily like they did to Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. And look what happened now that they decided to give a challenge to those three: Melky is hitting, Phil Hughes is back up in the majors and Ian Kennedy is dominating in the minors. Sometimes all you need to do is find a way to light a fire under these guys asses.

2. I wrote about Melky back on February 6th and said that he looked a lot like Johnny Damon through the same age (and Bernie is another example). Here is what I said: "One they keys to [Damon's] success seems to be that he cut down on his Ks and increased his walks. If Melky can do the same--and be much more selective at the pitches he DOES swing at since his batting average of balls in play (BABIP) has decreased every year as well (though increased greatly in his 2008 minor league stint)--then I'm willing to put him back into the mix. But he needs to come into camp in shape and willing to change his approach at the plate and he should look no further than Damon to see the results of doing so." And look what happened? He seems to be focused (maybe it's him and Cano realizing they both had to get their acts together), and according to Fangraphs his BB/K ratio is up to .75, his BABIP is up to .324, his line drive % is up, his fly ball % is down, and he his a HR 44.4% of the time he hits flyballs which is very good.

3. But he also started hot last season and fizzled off so I'm not ready to appoint him the starting CF. Brett Gardner is still superior on defense and with speed but so far has yet to hit like I thought he would (or at least get on base how I thought he would). But Melky's problem is sometimes losing focus in big spots, especially when he starts to hit a lot of HRs. Last year his early season HR success had him uppercutting everything in flying out a lot or popping up in big spots where he can get the runner home. Already he has 4 GIDPs and has had a couple of situations he tried to do too much.

4. A prime example of this was the afternoon game on April 22nd which he ended with a homerun. He could have ended it 7 innings earlier, though, by putting his bat on the ball with the bases loaded. Instead, he swung at a pitch over his head trying to do too much. Last night, though, he did exactly what he needed to as the New York Times wrote. And, in some ways, he looked a lot like Abreu wearing his number. The reason I always felt Abreu was successful for the Yankees is he took pitches and then, when he saw his pitch, he had a nice, easy swing through the strike zone and hit it where it was pitched. Melky last year refused to do either one. It's a real good sign to see him and Cano taking pitches and going to the opposite field. And both look relaxed yet focused out there. A good, early sign for the Yankees

5. Another person who looked comfortable last night was Phil Coke. He was fired up after getting in his inning of work and you almost feel like finally he's found his comfort level again with the Yankees after being moved around a lot early in the season into different roles. If Bruney comes back soon, I think (mostly hope) the back of the bullpen should be fine with Coke, Melancon and Bruney.

6. Speaking of pitching, FanGraphs reviewed the Yankees last few drafts and the 2006 one definitely seems like the best: In terms of pitching, this is one of the best drafts in recent memory for any team. The club found Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Zach McAllister, George Kontos, Dellin Betances, Mark Melancon, Daniel McCutchen (traded to PIT), and David Robertson. One place the Yankees have been bad at drafting: position players. And with a growing list of top flight young centerfielders (from FanGraphs) and catchers (from ESPN and Baseball Prospectus), and with a great organization void exposed with A-Rod's injury this year, the team should try to focus on finding/developing the next wave of position players (although they do have two really good catching prospects in Montero and Romine).

7. Baseball-Reference.com asks if David Ortiz is finished and has some stats for their argument. Boy, I hope the answer is yes. Though I hope, when Big Papi is done, he starts a blog something like what Freddie Mitchell has (that mailbag is AMAZING).

8. Let's have some news about other ballparks: Mets Police asks whose ballpark Citi/Taxpayer Field really is anyways and Yahoo!'s Big League Stew shows SCARY pictures about what Wrigley Field would look like post-apocalyptic (extremely scary in the wake of this Swine Flu scare) from the History Channel.

9. I'm supposed to head to the Yankees games tonight and tomorrow afternoon and I'm NOT excited by New Stadium Insider's look at the weekend weather. My one hope: I've gone to four games, the weather forecast was for rain four times, and they didn't even have a delay once and three times in was clear skies by gametime. Let's pray because we want this Yankee momentum to continue tonight.