Report: Yankees shopping Cabrera
By Jon Lane
FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Yankees are open to moving outfielder Melky Cabrera, who he writes would be a perfect fit for the White Sox. A trade of Cabrera, 24 and out of options, would create opportunities to give more at-bats to Nick Swisher, who is behind Xavier Nady on the depth chart but can play all three outfield positions as well as first base.
Joe Auriemma is in Tampa, Fla., covering Andy Pettitte’s Minor League start, where he and reporters are hoping to get a word with general manager Brian Cashman. Stay logged on for Joe’s full report and a Diamond Daily recap of the day’s events.
3:12 p.m.
From Joe Auriemma down in Tampa:
Cashman was non-committal about the Cabrera report, stating there were no talks going on. He’ll be meeting with team brass to discuss whether to bring either Cabrera or Gardner — or both — up north. What wasn’t mentioned was the fact that Cabrera is out of options. If the Yankees try to demote him to Triple-A, he’ll be a free agent and available for a team, like the White Sox, to sign him.
When asked about the battle for center field, Cashman replied with a smile, “It’s a very nice competition.”
Andy Pettitte’s pitching line: 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 Ks, 2 WP, 83 pitches (63 strikes). Errors were his downfall in the second inning, when 16 of his 17 pitches were strikes. The veteran left-hander admitted to feeling gassed but is shooting to throw 100 pitches in his next start.
More from Joe later.
YES Blog 
Interesting bit of news.
Julia
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How could they even think of trading Melky? So he had a down year last year, big deal. He is only 24 and has a lot of potential. Give him a chance! He was only off last year because he hit a lot of homers in April, and then tried to be a power hitter for the rest of the year. If Kevin Long can fix that problem, he would be back to his good self again. Please don’t trade him! He’s my favorite! I would cry if he left! I LOVE YOU MELKY!!! GO LECHE!
They need to move him and get whatever they can. Gardner has proven that he can handle the load and needs to be in there because what he brings to the table. Melky is a good kid and a good outfielder and maybe the change will do him good. Get ready to do some crying southernbelle!
The Yankees should really hold on to Melky for now. I really like him and always will, I’m kind of partial to the homegrown players. Next year the outfield will be wide open and they can slot Melky into right field or left field. The contracts of Damon, Nady, and Matsui are all up at the end of the year. That only leaves Gardner, Melky, and Swisher as outfielders that will be under contract. The Yankees can choose to go the expensive way and sign free agents like Matt Holliday (30), Jason Bay (31), and Rick Ankiel (30). The other option is to go younger and faster with people like Brett Gardner (26), Melky Cabrera (25), and Austin Jackson (23). As long as these guys can all hit that could be an amazing outfield. The speed that Gardner and Jackson possess could completely transform this team. They have all had a good spring training this year and hopefully will carry that into the regular season for Melky and Gardner with the Yankees and Jackson at Scranton.
How about Melky for Josh Fields (3B, OF)? Fields is 26 years old, has power, and is a great athlete (played QB at OK State). This may be asking for too much, however.
I’d like to trade Melky for a couple of good young bullpen guys. Or maybe starters even. W/Pettite retiring soon and A.J. being injury prone, you could never have too much depth!
Definitely shouldn’t trade Melky. Not one of our outfielders have a decent arm. Damon throws like a girl, Gardner has a quick transition but also a very weak arm, and Nady is better than those two, but does not have a RF arm. At the end of any game, you want Melky in there for defense. and if you want to keep Gardner in the game as well, leave him CF, Nady in Left and Melky in right…you need the flexibility. With Mo in for the 9th, you don’t people scoring from 2nd on all those bloop hits to center. Melky makes that throw better than anyone on the Yanks right now!
And we have 4 hard throwing starters in CC, Wang, AJ, and Joba…they are going to give up weak singles often. Teams are easily going to go first to third on us if we don’t have a single cannon in the outfield. First and third in comparison to first and second completely changes the complexion of any inning.
Side note – anyone know how Austin Jackson’s defense is? Good arm??
How about the Yanks visit with the Brewers again? We’re waiting to get rid of someone and then have them have a breakout year. It’s what happens when players leave Milwaukee.
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