I Hope the Cubs Get Melky Cabrera

I hope the Cubs get Melky Cabrera away from the Yankees.  After the Milton Bradley fiasco, and even though they brought it on themselves, the Cubs are due a break, and Melky just might be it.

Melky is a just-better-than-average defensive centerfielder, he had a career best .752 OPS in 2009, and he’s still only 25 years old in 2010.  In other words, he’s a good risk for the Cubs to take.  The Cubs have been so desperate for a real centerfielder, they played Kosuke Fukudome 113 games in center last year.  KF is a good defensive rightfielder, but a bad defensive centerfielder.

Aside from the improved defense, the Cubs would have a balanced top-to-bottom  line-up in 2010, even if Melky barely improved at the plate over his 2009 performance.  Even though they will an average age of 33.25, the Cubs have a reasonably good chance that they’ll get more offensive production as a group out of Derrick Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and Fukodome in 2010 than they did in 2009, due to the injuries Ramirez and Soriano had.

I also like the chances for Giovanni Soto to bounce back in 2010.  He’ll be 27 next year, and even hitting only .218 in ‘09, he still had a .702 OPS, an acceptable number for a catcher.