 Night Baseball In Oaktown
Night's like this make me proud to be an insomniac. The wife and baby will be sound asleep, the hipsters will be retreating from my neighborhood on their Vespas, everyone will be winding down, getting ready for hump day tomorrow on the job. Me, I'll be right here, live blogging the Yanks/A's game from the
First pitch will be at about 10:05, if you're up and watching, stop by. For the next six hours, here's a link and discussion which might interest you guys. River Ave Blues has been foaming at the mouth to get this post out there, calling for Brett Gardner to supplant Melky Cabrera as the Yankees center fielder. I like Gardner, and I think he should be on the major league roster as a spot starter and more importantly, as wheels off the bench, but he shouldn't take over for Melky. Look at the numbers, Melky had a great April (.299/.370/.494), then a horrible May (.234/.270/.319) and he seems to be bouncing back a bit so far in June (.294/.333/.294). He's young, he's streaky. This is nothing new. Talk to me at the end of July and we'll see how his numbers look then. Bring Gardner up, get him acclimated with the big leagues. Give him spot starts, let him pinch run in big situations. Get some kind of idea as to what he could contribute on the major league level. If you do that and he looks ready, then fine, make some tough decisions. To advocate trading Melky right now to make room for Gardner is lunacy. 
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I agree with you. You can't just go out and trade a guy cause he has had 1+ years of experience at the age of 22 or 23. I met Pete A. this past weekend in Scranton for the LoHud Scranton outing and he said the Yanks would have Gardner up right now if he was a right handed bat. I'll bet that once Moeller gets DFA'd, we'll see Gardner.
I like Peter Abraham, but what's the difference between a slap-hitting lefty and a slap-hitting righty off the bench? His speed is the reason they need him, not his stick.
I agree with you there too. When you're pinch running with Wilson Betemit and Chad Moeller, you know your team is seriously lacking in the speed department.
what do you think about the whole, "if hes gonna be in the big leagues, he should get consistent pllaying time" thing? some ppl on RAB were sayin gardner should either get significant PT here, or significant down there...whats the downside of bringing him up and giving him spot starts like you said?
I guess the reasoning is that being a part-time player would hinder his development. I tend to think that playing occasionally at the major league level is better experience for a young player than dominating at the AAA level. Gardner isn't that young, he's actually older than Melky.