Today's NY Post reports the Yankees are ready to send 22-year-old OF Melky Cabrera to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 28-year-old lefty closer Mike Gonzalez. All that stands in the way is the Pirates say-so, and the Yankees willingness to include a minor prospect:
"They can make that deal [Cabrera for Gonzalez] right now if they want," a source said of the Yankees.
I am a big fan of Melky Cabrera for reasons stated repeatedly this past summer - age, strikeout rates, the prematurity of the baseball punditry writing the 20-year-old off in 2005 based on 19 ABs, but I wouldn't deal for him if I were the Pirates. Why?
The mean reason is the lack of fit between what Melky provides and what the Pirates need. The Bucs do not need another 10-15 HR OF. They have a couple cheapies already in Chris Duffy and Nate McLouth, and RF Jose Bautista looks like Jeremy Burnitz minus the salary (25 HR/.350 OBP/.250 AVG.)
While Melky's OBP skills shine in the Pittsburgh line-up, he doesn't provide the pop GM Dave Littlefield has repeatedly stated he wants - a lefty slugger to play RF or 1B.
However, that unnamed prospect could change everything though. If it is one of the Yankees highly-regarded pitching ones i.e. reliever Kevin Whelan or J. Brent Cox, then my opinion changes. The Pirates are a bad team and stock-piling quality chips overwhelms the specifics.