Well, time to start the pre-season previews of various players. Last season we did not get all done, so I am going to try to do the players we are least familiar with first and work to the players we have seen for a few years in case it happens again. If some one wants to do a player, feel free to grab them. I will be taking Gordon. I want to go pretty in-depth with him.
Melky Cabrera spent last season with the Braves after spending 3 seasons with the Yankees. He signed this off season with the Royals for $1.25 million . The signing didn't make a whole lot of sense with the Royals inking Frenchy just a few days before that, but Dayton Moore loves to hoard his outfielders. Melky comes into the season penciled in as the starting center fielder.
Here is a look back on his stats over the past 4 years:
Season | Team | G | PA | HR | SB | BB% | K% | BABIP | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | Fld | WAR |
2005 | Yankees | 6 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 10.5% | 0.235 | 0.211 | 0.211 | 0.211 | 0.187 | -3 | -0.4 |
2006 | Yankees | 130 | 524 | 7 | 12 | 10.1% | 12.8% | 0.309 | 0.280 | 0.360 | 0.391 | 0.333 | 3 | 1.5 |
2007 | Yankees | 150 | 612 | 8 | 13 | 7.0% | 12.5% | 0.295 | 0.273 | 0.327 | 0.391 | 0.317 | -8.1 | 0.6 |
2008 | Yankees | 129 | 453 | 8 | 9 | 5.3% | 14.0% | 0.271 | 0.249 | 0.301 | 0.341 | 0.285 | 2.5 | 0.3 |
2009 | Yankees | 154 | 540 | 13 | 10 | 7.2% | 12.2% | 0.288 | 0.274 | 0.336 | 0.416 | 0.331 | 1.6 | 1.9 |
2010 | Braves | 147 | 509 | 4 | 7 | 6.1% | 14.0% | 0.288 | 0.255 | 0.317 | 0.354 | 0.294 | -15.9 | -1.2 |
GB/FB | LD% | GB% | FB% | IFFB% | HR/FB | IFH% | BUH% | |
Melky's Career #'s |
1.55 | 19.1% | 49.1% | 31.7% | 11.3% | 6.1% | 7.20% | 18.6 |
League Average | 18.20% | 44.30% | 37.50% | 9.30% | ~11% |
He should have a BABIP around .300 plus with his line drive percentage.
Looking at the batted ball data, his HR/FB is extremely low. He has shown very little power and I except to see quite a bit of weak fly out this season. Now here is a look at his Oliver and Marcel projections:
PA | HR | SB | BA | OBP | SLG | wOBA | Field | WAR | |
Oliver | 546 | 9 | 8 | 0.265 | 0.325 | 0.379 | 0.312 | 3 | 0.4 |
Marcels | 508 | 9 | 9 | 0.262 | 0.321 | 0.382 | 0.300 |
He looks to end up near replacement level for the upcoming season. After doing a few more outfielder previews, I think we are going to see quite a few outfielders near the same production level.