Today, Dayton Moore and Brian Sabean completed a swap of two very talented Major Leaguers who up to this point have yet to take that next step toward stardom. Melky Cabrera’s name recognition is surely helped by the fact that he played for the New York Yankees but the fact remains: the man had a breakout year playing for the Kansas City Royals this past year. The Melk Man hit .305, had 18 homers, 201 hits, 87 RBI’s and stole 20 bags. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end but, while making under $3 million this coming year can be a steal for the usually enigmatic to downright bad San Francisco Giants offense. Assuming Carlos Beltran won’t be wearing a Giant’s uniform next year, the trade makes perfect sense for these guys. Melky is at worst a serviceable Major League Center Fielder and at best a top 25 fantasy performer (he was 24th in all of baseball this past year just ahead of Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Young).
The Royals, though, are the real winners here in my book. Jonathon Sanchez is a real power pitcher and at age 28 can be a real candidate for stardom. Remember Roy Halladay’s first good year was 2002 at age 25 and Cliff Lee’s first good year (by any standard) was in his age 27 year. Good pitchers take time to develop and Dayton Moore understands that. Moore said today, “He’s somebody our scouts feel is a breakout candidate moving forward into 2012.” He couldn’t be more correct. Imagine you are Jonathon Sanchez for a moment coming off of a year where you go 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA and only complete 101 innings. How dedicated will you be to the weight room? How conscious of injury prevention will you be and how ready to prove to the world that you are as good as people hoped you were would you be? Jonathon needs to take a chip on his shoulder that the Giants have given up on him and work hard this offseason and be that pitcher we all saw in the 2010 postseason.
I’m hoping that Mr. Sanchez takes those steps forward as is Dayton Moore and the rest of his staff. The Royals are on the verge of being able to compete and need to continue to make the smart moves necessary to overtake the Detroit Justin Verlanders and the upstart Indians (who I can’t say I believe in). Should Kansas City add one more starter, we’re looking at a team talented and young enough to do something crazy come 2012. Bruce Chen, Jonathon Sanchez, and Luke Hochever may not be the scariest top 3 in the Majors but throw in a Jair Jurrjens and suddenly starting pitching becomes a near strength of this team (injuries notwithstanding).
I like the move for both teams and nobody’s locked into anything past 2012: both guys are free agents in a year anyway. Wish both those guys the best of luck as they try on their new jerseys.
Stat of the Day: A woman came out today and said that Herman Cain groped her.
-Sean Morash
