When the New York Yankees won their ninth consecutive AL East title in 2006, there was plenty of praise for the big-name Bombers—manager Joe Torre; captain Derek Jeter; Cy Young candidate Chien Ming Wang. Lost in the shuffle, though, was the one player whose contributions always seem to be overlooked, an unsung hero who was nothing short of instrumental in the Yanks' run to October: Left fielder Melky Cabrera.
In 2005, at the tender age of 22, Cabrera played his way into the bigs with a blistering month in Triple-A. Last season, he earned a permanent spot in the show by picking up the slack after Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, and Bubba Crosby all went down with injuries. Simply put: The kid answered the bell in an everyday role.
Or, in the words of John Sterling, the Melk Man delivered.
Cabrera's slick glove, cannon arm, and potent bat were just what the Yankees needed in 2006. Hitting from both sides of the plate and everywhere from leadoff to ninth in the order, the youngster posted a .280 average to go with 7 homers and 50 RBI—all while leading the league in outfield assists.
And so: Milky Cabrera—the face of the future in the Bronx, right?
Maybe...unless he gets squeezed off the roster in favor of an overhyped reliever named Mike Gonzales.
Just about every team in the league is after the Pittsburgh lefty. Maybe it has something do with Gonzales' 2.17 ERA in 2006, or his 2.37 career mark. Those aren't bad numbers—for a National League bullpen man. Let's not forget, after all:
Converting NL stats to AL stats is like going from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
The rest of Gonzales' resume, moreover, isn't nearly so impressive. He has zero postseason appearances. He'll be 29 in May. He walks too many batters. And oh by the way:
He gets hurt. All the time.
The troubles started with a sore arm in March of 2005. Then there was a bum knee in April of the same year, the knee again that June, a groin pull in July 2006, and finally a case of elbow tendinits last August.
Not exactly a picture of durability, that Mighty Mike Gonzales.
The Yankees are coming up on an organizational crossroads. After 2007, Bobby Abreu's contract will up, and Johnny Damon's will be winding down—and the New York front office will have to start looking to the future. Jose Tabata is already tabbed to take over right field in Yankee Stadium, which begs the obvious question:
Why go with an unknown prospect in one of the corner outfield spots when you have a proven winner at your disposal?
Put another way: Why risk a potential flop when you already know Cabrera can get the job done?
And even more to the point: Why ditch Melky for a broken-down NL reliever?
One hopes that Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner will come to their senses in realizing that Mike Gonzales (bad knee and all) is not the answer to the Yankees' bullpen problems. Or then again who knows: Maybe Gonzalez will become a Yankee, and maybe he'll be just as consistent as the last two setup men imported to the Bronx.
Kyle Farnsworth?
Tom Gordon?
Here's rooting for the Melk Man in 2007 and beyond.
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