Sports

Former Yankees outfielder Cabrera could be headed for big pay day

In the time since he left the Yankees, Melky Cabrera has gotten out of shape, been non-tendered, gotten into shape, played with three teams in three years and, oh yeah, become an NL MVP candidate.

It is hard to find many baseball officials who believe Cabrera has sustainability as an elite player. Nevertheless, nearly one-third into this season, he is in the MVP discussion, taking over as the Giants’ No. 3 hitter when Pablo Sandoval was injured earlier this month and carrying the team.

He went into Wednesday leading the NL in hitting (.376), hits (77), triples (6), total bases (118) and runs (38). Yeah, that Melky Cabrera, the one who left New York with kind of a Ricky Ledee profile and is now knocking Willie Mays out of the Giants record book (most hits in May).

“He has turned into one of the better hitters in the league,” Arizona GM Kevin Towers said Wednesday by phone. “We haven’t figured out how to get him out this year going back to spring training.”

And if you think he is just a one-hit wonder, well, it is more like 278 hits. That’s his major league-leading total since the beginning of last year — eight more than second-place Starlin Castro and 34 more than his pal and Yankee hit machine Robinson Cano.

Which leads to two questions, one looking back and one forward: Why did the Yankees move him? And is Melky Cabrera — yeah, that Melky Cabrera — about to score big in free agency?

Cabrera was a helpful, supplementary part in a Yankee 2009 World Series title in which the three main starters — CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte — were pushed hard. So the Yanks wanted a workhorse for 2010 and remained infatuated by Javy Vazquez despite his 2004 pinstripe failure.

Atlanta knew it would move Vazquez to the Yankees once touted prospect Arodys Vizcaino was made the centerpiece of a deal. Then it became about extra pieces. Atlanta had not solved its leadoff situation since Rafael Furcal left after the 2006 season nor center field since Andruw Jones left after 2007. Thus, it was willing to accept either Cabrera or Brett Gardner, who then — like now — was held in high esteem by the Yankee front office. One Atlanta official said the Yankees would not even discuss Gardner.

“Melky was an extra player for us and we viewed Gardner as a future, every day guy who could play a premium position in center,” Brian Cashman said. “Plus Melky was arbitration eligible and so he looked like he was about to become a very expensive fourth outfielder.”

With the Braves, Cabrera’s excess weight curtailed his mobility and led to a .255 season and a non-tender. The Yankees actually offered Cabrera a minor league deal, but the Royals gave him a guaranteed $1.25 million and sure playing time. That offseason Cabrera worked out with Alex Rodriguez (as he has continued to do) and got into peak shape and became more serious about his game, which are the reasons most cited by scouts for his turnaround.

He hit .305 last year with 18 homers and the Royals — like the Yanks and Braves — did not believe heavily in him, trading Cabrera to San Francisco for Jonathan Sanchez. Now it is the Giants’ turn to determine if they want a long-term marriage with a player who has fans in the AT&T Park left field stands showing up dressed as “Melkmen.”

If not, Cabrera becomes a wild card in an intriguing free-agent outfield class. The belief is the Rangers will retain Josh Hamilton and that new Dodger ownership will show its seriousness by inking Andre Ethier. Still, the market would include Michael Bourne, who ironically has solved Atlanta’s center field/leadoff issues, Tampa’s B.J. Upton, Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino and you could even throw in Cabrera’s Giant teammate, former Met Angel Pagan (.313, 10 steals heading into last night).

Also there is Nick Swisher. Both Cabrera and Swisher are switch-hitters. Swisher has more power, which usually evokes the best paydays. But Cabrera is faster, has a superior arm and is more than three years younger. Plus, he might be trending upward. The suddenly budget conscious Yankees probably will sign neither. But it will be interesting to see what the sport thinks of Cabrera’s rise in comparison to Swisher and the others.

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Hardball quiz:

In his Rays debut Tuesday, Hideki Matsui hit his 174th homer since joining the majors in 2003. All have come as an AL player. Only six other lefties have hit more homers as an AL player than Matsui in that timeframe. Name them. One clue: The players also could have played some in the NL during this span, but these are only homers while with an AL team. (answer below).

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Rays have plenty of plunk

When Bobby Valentine became Red Sox manager, there was an instant expectation about Valentine irritating Joe Girardi and the Yankees, and re-igniting the hatred within the Rivalry.

But the first AL East sparks were not between New York and Boston, but rather the Red Sox and the Rays. There was a benches-clearing incident Friday between the teams, which triggered a war of words between Valentine and Rays manager Joe Maddon. Valentine said Tampa’s coaches elevated the tensions by being “very immature and out of control … (and) unprofessional.” Maddon, to tweak Valentine, mentioned how much respect he had for Boston’s players, notably omitting the new manager.

Maddon and Tampa’s front office, rightfully, are looked at as erudite. But opponents will also tell you that the Rays play with a David-vs.-Goliath edge, using the underdog spirit as fuel. They know they can’t stand up to the AL East beasts in payroll, so they make sure to do so on the field.

And yesterday, outside of the division, their feistiness showed as they got into a plunk-for-plunk confrontation with the White Sox to such a degree that there was wonder if Rays reliever J.P. Howell hit Alejandro De Aza on purpose — as he was diving back into second base on a pickoff attempt. De Aza left with a knee injury.

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U couldn’t get much worse

As problematic as the Yankees rotation has been this year, consider that it could have been worse. After all, there was a lot of pressure on the Yanks at the trade deadline last season to use big prospects to obtain Ubaldo Jimenez from the Rockies.

But a diminished fastball and command issues concerned the Yanks enough to pass, and Jimenez was dealt to Cleveland on July 30. Since then, 87 starters had worked 100 innings or more and none has a worse ERA than the 5.66 of Jimenez.

His command has indeed been the main reason. Jimenez’s 5.37 walks-per-nine-innings is not only the worse of those 87 starters, but the next worse is the distant second of the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley at 4.38.

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QUIZ ANSWER: David Ortiz (331), Carlos Pena (216), Travis Hafner (194), Justin Morneau (194), Curtis Granderson (182), Jason Giambi (179). Jim Thome also hit 174 homers in this span while with AL teams.