SUNDAY: The team expects to know by Monday whether or not Cabrera will accept an outright assignment, according to the Indians’ official Tribe Insider Twitter news feed.
THURSDAY: The Indians announced Thursday that they’ve activated outfielder Brandon Guyer from the disabled list and cleared a spot for him on the active roster by designating Melky Cabrera for assignment.
Signed to a minor league deal in late April, the 33-year-old Cabrera appeared in 17 games with Cleveland and tallied 66 plate appearances, though he managed just a .207/.243/.293 batting line in that small sample of work.
Cabrera, of course, was operating without the benefit of a full Spring Training during his short time with the Indians. While he did pick up 42 plate appearances in Triple-A before making his debut with the team, it’s perhaps not surprising that he exhibited a fair bit of rust at the plate. To his credit, Cabrera posted a 34.6 percent hard-hit rate, per Fangraphs, and punched out just 10 times in his 66 PAs (15.2 percent).
The switch-hitting Cabrera is only a year removed from providing roughly league-average offense at the big league level. In 666 plate appearances between the White Sox and Royals last season, Cabrera slashed .285/.324/.423 with 17 homers, 30 doubles and a pair of triples — good for a 99 OPS+ and a 98 wRC+.
While he’s long graded out as a sub-par defensive outfielder — never more so than in 2017 — he’s also been a steadily average or better producer at the plate throughout his late 20s and early 30s. From 2014-17, Cabrera racked up 2616 plate appearances between the Blue Jays, White Sox and Royals, hitting a combined .289/.333/.431 in that time (110 OPS+). So while things didn’t work out for the Melk Man in Cleveland, it’s certainly not out of the question that another team could look to pick him on a similarly low-cost investment with the hopes that he can provide some additional offense.
The Indians will have a week to trade Cabrera or run him through outright or release waivers, though a veteran player with his service time will have the option of refusing an outright assignment and again exploring free agency. He’s better-suited for an AL club who can plug him in at DH periodically, though Cabrera could also function as a bench bat and occasional outfielder in the NL.
Rip the Milk Man
Adios Melk Dud
Both should’ve been cut lose, Guyer did horrible in the minors while on injury rehab.
Should have been the other way around
Guyer’s value is based on his league average defensive skills, above average performance vs LHPs, and penchant for getting hit by the pitch. Bottom line is if he doesn’t continue tearing up lefty pitching he essentially has no value. My guess is Guyer is just keeping Zimmer’s roster spot warm until he returns.
Zimmer hurt his right shoulder doing hitting drills, so he’s now shut down for 5 days.
Wait, Melky is only 33? He moves likes he’s 43. Baseball player conditioning is a joke lol
I’d think Melky would still be useful in a bunch of places. Why not Tampa?
We could plug him in a corner spot. I’m ashamed to say he’d be an upgrade over Gomez or Refsnyder…
It’s not the age, it’s the mileage. He’s been playing professional baseball at a high level for 15+ years. It was once considered normal for a player to decline as he approached 35 who started when he was 19 or 20.
I’m also pretty sure what he was ladling into himself at one point has cost him now.
Wasn’t he signed as a 16 year old? That’s a long professional career roaming the outfield
Why I put the + next to the 15. Wasn’t sure.
But, yes. That’s a long time.
You’re pretty sure? You know this by watching on your HDTV with a 60 inch screen? You’ve seen him ladle?
He kinda got caught and suspended when he was with the Giants …. just to jog your memory a bit
Melky wasn’t great, but I think as he gets more plate appearances this season it’s not out of the question that he can start hitting better (although it’s hard to blame the Indians for not waiting to find out).
That said, Guyer is terrible. I would have rather kept Melky than him.
Somebody call the Giants.
Look like the milk man has run out off milk.
JUICE
So downvoter Melky is squeaky clean…who knew..
Maybe he can “juice” back up and stay in the league for a few more seasons?
Thanks for making that point. People seem to forget over time about the many cheaters in the league.
Maybe he can “juice” back up and hang on for a few more seasons?
Of course they did. The team got tired of seeing him hit into double plays.
How does this sound? Melky to the Rangers? He would fit right in with that team.
Welcome to the Orioles Melk Man
Tigers should sign him on the cheap, to replace MIggy, and move Castellanos to 1st base.
That’s actually a good idea. Then he can hit into double plays against us.
Melky Cabrera is not a fit for the Tigers. However, Tiger fans are clamoring for Nicholas Castellanos to be moved to 1B. Its becoming obvious to even the lesser studious fans that his inability to play OF is costing the Tigers games and pitchers extra work.
It’s all just a roster shuffle until Michael Martinez is fully healed and he’s back in cleveland. 😉
I anxiously await that day. His bat would actually play better than Kip’s.
Oh, I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Perfect pickup for the Mets as they continue to collect baseball’s best hitters from 2011.
A lot of these veterans are suffering because they over priced themselves in free agency. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again next offseason, because majority of the so called Star Studded free agent class are in their mid to late 30s.
What I’m saying is that a lot of these guys are still in Spring Training mode.
This move would make a lot more sense if it was someone other than Guyer taking Melky’s place, because Guyer isn’t significantly more useful than Melky is. I kind of doubt that any team will trade for Cabrera, but I can definitely see someone willing to take another minor league deal flyer on him.
They’ll flip him for a AAAA bullpen arm…
if the Mets didn’t have like 25 corner outfielders on their 40 man, I’d say he’d fit right in with them
OTOH they could double their Cabrera collection
A ways to go before they could match the collection of Garcia’s the White Sox had last season. They actually had a lineup that featured three of them in LF (Willy), CF (Leury) and RF (Avisail). Melky Cabrera was their regular LF before getting traded to the Royals near the summer deadline.
Of course that doesn’t match the the feat of the Alou brothers who each played for the Giants back in 1963. Contrary to popular belief, they never actually started a game together but were in the outfield as a family for three contests in September when the youngest, Jesus, was called-up from the minors. The eldest brother Felipe was the Giants starting RF in 1963 while Matty was primarily a defensive replacement and pinch-hitter.
Jesus made his debut on Sept. 10, and it was legendary in its own right: Manager Al Dark had the Alou brothers bat consecutively in the eighth inning, Jesus and Matty as pinch hitters before Felipe came up. The Alous went 0 for 3 against the Mets’ Carlton Willey.
bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/the-myth-of-the-…
Of course, former All-Star OF Moises Alou was Felipe’s son., making him the nephew of Matty and Jesus. He was also a cousin to former big leaguers Mel Rojas and Jose Sosa.
Baseball has the worst conditioned athletes and yet have the hardest task of playing 162 games and hitting a baseball. CC Sabathia has his fat belly hanging over his belt that looks disgusting yet he can still pitch and get people out. Makes no sense! Baseball is endurance while the other sports are all speed demons well conditioned and it takes the trainers a while to figure out how many calories each player needs per day. I heard one of my Red Wings players has to do 10,000 calories a day just to try to gain weight and maintain their current weight. Baseball players that are well conditioned and play fast are very rare these days. I am not saying there aren’t good athletes because it is very impressive playing over 155 games a year. However, how many go on the DL every year for a hamstring? That’s a conditioning issue for sure. Get these guys doing more wind sprints!
A CC (Cottage Cheese) Sabathia looks like a sprinter next to “Big Sloppi” Bartolo Colon…
You think MLB players are out of shape now? LOL
Proper conditioning hasn’t always been the ticket to great success anyway. There may be no better example than hard drinking Hack Wilson who who still holds the MLB record of 191 RBI’s when the sport had a shorter regular season schedule and played day games exclusively. He was reportedly hung over more often than not when playing. Wilson was hardly a one-year wonder either as his HOF status would suggest.
Pitchers were even more prone to being out of shape since they didn’t have to play regularly. Tons of examples in the past, much more so than in today’s game.
Because of lower salaries before the onset of free agency, many players needed to supplement their incomes with offseason jobs and didn’t have the opportunity to condition themselves properly. Even those that did hardly had the resources available to them that modern players can utilize today.
Off topic on Melky. Whenever I have a diahhrea attack and it comes out like mud, I say that I am having a Melky Cabrera. Just saying.
Thanks for sharing that dreck with us.
You’re welcome