Got Melk?
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Jessica De Lellis, Staff Writer
November 10, 2011
Filed under Opinions, Sports
On November 7, it was announced that the San Francisco Giants traded starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez and minor league pitcher Ryan Verdugo for Kansas City Royals’ outfielder Melky Cabrera. As a whole, this trade seems to be more beneficial than not.
First of all, Jonathan Sanchez has a big problem with walks. Last season he had a 15% walk rate, a statistic that the Giants cannot afford to have. In baseball, a large percentage of walked batters score. Without Sanchez, the Giants will drastically decrease the number of runs scored on them each game. Besides, the 2011 Giants pitching staff was debatably the strongest in the league, so the Giants will not suffer without him. The pitching staff includes: All-Star Tim Lincecum, All-Star Matt Cain, All-Star Ryan Vogelsong, and Madison Bumgarner, who together make a series win very difficult for their opponents to come by. Depending on their off-season performance, the fifth spot in the rotation will be taken by either Barry Zito or new edition Eric Surkamp.
On the other side of the trade, Melky Cabrera will help the Giants’ offense immensely. Cabrera had a great 2011 season. With a .305 batting average and 18 home runs, Cabrera strangely matched the statistics of Buster Posey in his 2010 season. In addition, Cabrera is fairly young (he’s 27) unlike some of the other players the Giants aquired last season who were well over 30.
Cabrera is already a hit with Giants fans. On Twitter, “Melky Cabrera,” not “Jonathan Sanchez” was trending in San Francisco, and fans are already embracing his nicknames. As many know, Giants fans love players with cool nicknames.There’s Kung Fu Panda, The Freak, Fear the Beard, Baby Giraffe and even John Stamos. Cabrera is already nicknamed Leche (Spanish for milk). When Cabrera was on the Yankees, every time he earned a RBI (Run Batted In) they would flash “Tiene Leche?” (“Got Milk?” in Spanish) on the scoreboard. Giants fan @drocknorris tweeted, ”Got Melk? The SF Giants do” and @FraserKnowsBest tweeted, “I can’t wait to say ‘The Melkman Delivers.’” Clearly the fans are embracing his awesome name and hopefully awesome future with the Giants.
Overall, this trade will help the Giants get some much needed offense and give the fans a chance to have fun with Melky’s nickname.