Cameron for Melky Cabrera? Nick Swisher?

[NastyTwig]

http://www.nydailynews.co...de_melky_cabrera_t-1.html

 

Looks like it just might happen. Would like to see us get a young pitcher as well though.

[sbrylski]

If Melky can find his minor league line of .296 / .349 / .420 / .769, and play average defense (I've read mixed reviews), I guess he's fine. He was young at every level in the minors, and was thrown early into the mix in the bigs, so he may have potential to outperform that line in his prime, but consider me skeptical he'll be anything special - hasn't shown anything in the majors yet.

 

This doesn't say good things about the internal opinion on how we'll fare next year. Its a fairly clear downgrade for 2009.

[tigerbrew]

There should be a young pitcher coming our way too, hopefully he's a good one.

[PrimeTime955]

can't say i'm happy about this

[JimH5]

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

 

Melky is roster filler.

 

This is the kind of move the Brewers would have made 10 years ago.

 

Great outfielder. Terrible hitter.

[RyDogg66]

That is a huge turd of a deal for a team that expected to compete for a Wild Card...unless, unless there is another player involved or it allows us to clear salary to resign Ben Sheets or go after someone like Derek Lowe.

[endaround]

Not a great outfielder. His UZR last season had him at exactly average whereas Cameron was 13.3 runs above average over 150 games. Cameron to Cabrera is 3-4 win downgrade.

[Invader3K]

I don't like it...I hope there is more to this trade than just a young utility type for a proven veteran on the last year of his deal.

[Chio151]

Really, Melky isn't too bad. And he may benefit greatly from a change of scenery. He's still young.

 

We've all looked into our centerfield options. They are slim. We could have had one last season with Cam and then rolled the dice, but at least we're looking for a long term answer here.

[MarquesJohnson2000]

On ESPN the graphic they showed indicated it was straight up Cameron-for-Cabrera.

[yoshii8]

I like Melky Cabrera, he had a down season last year, but had one good, and one decent season as the Yankees CF, and could potentially turn into a good player, I mean he will only be 24 this season. If nothing else it saves us 10 million that we can now spend on LH bats and/or pitching upgrades. I also think that there will be more to this deal, and hopefully we will be getting another pitcher in the deal, please let it be Ian Kennedy.

[endaround]

$10m isn't enough to buy 3 wins.

[PeaveyFury]

$10m isn't enough to buy 3 wins.

 

The difference between someone like DiFelice and Sheets in the rotation has to be close to that, I'd think?

[dpapo]

Cough, salary dump, cough. Yuk, put in the end, I don't like this deal camp. Let's see, an OBP of .301 and an OPS of .642 in 2008. Hmm, who does he compare to, a slightly lesser Craig Counsell who had an OBP of .355 and an OPS of .658 last year. So, if this trade is true and doesn't involve any other players, out new starting centerfielder is basically a slightly less productive offensive player than Craig Counsell from a year ago.

 

Edit: Actually his numbers are even more similar to Jason Kendall in OBP, Slugging and OPS.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Melky Cabrera is a terrible hitter and an average CF at best. I have seen him plenty of times and all I can say is he is not what we need. He is basically a slightly better gwynn. Is melvin just giving up at this point? Nothing he is doing is making any sense at all.

[Patrick425]

I"m confident that the Brewers are doing this trade for a purpose and would have plans for the extra $9.5 million they would save on Cabrera vs. Cameron. I'm sure someone will try to prove otherwise, but I'm not convinced that Cameron provides $9.5 million worth of value over Cabrera. As mediocre as Cabrera's numbers are, I'm sure he would go for more than $450,000 if he were a FA. It's a value move. The $9.5 million will be better spent elsewhere.

[PeaveyFury]

If this deal is straight up, it's clearly a salary dump. And I don't like it. It would certainly indicate that the Brewers do plan on being players in the remaining free agent market, though.

 

I'll hold out hope that we can get an arm coming back our way in the deal yet, though.

[Ennder]

Really depends on what they do with the money I guess. If they say sign Abreu and use Cabrera as a 4th OF I like the deal or if they sign Sheets with it or even Lowe I don't mind it.

 

There are two types of Yankee prospects, guys who get overrated because they are a yankee so they must be good and those that get underrated because they aren't an instant success and yankee fans have no patience. I think Melky is the second type, he is an above average fielder and around a league average hitter (for CF) most likely.

[giffted1]

If we're getting a young pitcher back as well, okay. Otherwise, this deal really stinks. Sure it'll free up some money to pursue a free agent, but it would just mean filling a hole by creating a different one.

[dpapo]

If it means that the Brewers are going to be able to spend money to a sign a quality starting pitcher and a closer, then I still would have rather dealt Cameron for some minor league players. Just hope that the report is not accurate, otherwise I don't see what Cabrera brings that any non-roster type of player could also bring. Other that he's young and has "potential". Cabrera is a 4th outfielder at best who right now is probably the favorite to be the everyday centerfielder for the Brewers. Now if they got a young pitcher in return and had to take Cabrera okay, but at this moment that doesn't appear to be the case. Hopefully this report is not completely accurate.

[Never Outhustled]

I don't see the point in clearing money so we can sign a FA when the FA's available are undesirable. Pretty clear sign that bad luck combined with Melvin's unaggressive approach has already caused the Brewers to punt 2009.

 

Then in 2010, we will break in a number of rookies, so we can't really be expected to compete then too.

 

2011, here we come!

[tigerbrew]

Yeah, I hope they sign either Abreu or Dunn after trading Cameron, and I believe they still have enough payroll to add a good pitcher after that.

[PeaveyFury]

I don't see the point in clearing money so we can sign a FA when the FA's available are undesirable.

 

I disagree strongly with this. This is one of the best free agent classes for pitching ever, and there are certainly guys out there that would be huge upgrades for the Brewers and will certainly help for 2009.

 

And there are also impact bats as well, if they want to get involved for someone like Dunn.

[Patrick425]

One thing I find curious about this, if it's true, is the timing. Were the Brewers holding on to Cameron knowing that if they traded him to the Yankees (or elsewhere), any slim hope of signing CC would go out the door. Now that CC is off the table, the trigger is being pulled. The Yankees may have been aware of this also and used it in their negotiations with CC.

Or, perhaps the Yankees told CC that if he signed with them that they would make a strong effort to get Cameron. If that's the case, I would hope that the Brewers could wrangle more than Cabrera in exchange for Cameron.

[PrimeTime955]

I'm not a fan like I noted earlier, but, I have a feeling that Doug never planned on bringing Cameron back, and only picked up his option so that he could trade him away and get something in return instead of simply loosing him to free agency. If you think about it that way, it's not that bad, in fact its somewhat smart. But I still wish we had Cam.