Big Market Temptation

Ya know, it’s sort of sad to see Melky Cabrera leave the nest.

Tim Liotta, a contributor for the San Francisco Examiner wrote an article a few days ago on the trade. The gist of the article revolved around that less than exciting truth of the trade for San Francisco. “Eh, whatever, just another player with twenty homers”…The Royals, barely mentioned, find a spirited Johnathan Sanchez in their laps ready to fire on call.

The west coast approach to this trade seems luke warm at best. Liotta expressed that San Francisco fans are indeed nodding their heads at the deal, but nobody is frantically excited about it. I believe most Giant revolvers are still wrapped around the silly mirage of Jonathan Sanchez being a superstar, but we know this is a far fetched impression. He had a good season during the world series run, but he’s nothing more than Jamie Garcia in my eyes.

Thats not a bad thing. I love Jamie Garcia.

When he’s consistent that is. Which is roughly a hit or miss pace.

Sanchez is a crafty lefty the Royals dream deeply for and often salivate upon. I mean, he’s here, you got him! But when he’s off, he’s off. He won’t get pummeled much, but he walks a lot of hitters not worthy of reaching base. If Dave Eiland can zone in on the command of Sanchez, then this trade will easily prove to be the cleanest side of the quarter.

I really liked Melky Cabrera though. Am I off for thinking like this? The guy really stepped up this year and was fun to watch. Always hinging to spark a rally, Melky was 2011′s David DeJesus.

A perfect player for the Royals youth to build around.

Damn I say!

Moore tricks me on these decisions. I can only sincerely hope that GM Dayton Moore isn’t thinking  a Vin Mazzaro type of trade off here. I’ll give Sanchez a little more credit than that , but there is something sneaky about Brian Sabean in this instance. He really must of believed this was a valid and fair switch. Is Dayton Moore an easy man to trick? Or did Moore genuinely take home the prettier outlet?

Melky has met his prime and will most likely not have a more productive season than the one he just had. After failing to meet expectations in New York and Atlanta, the Royals provided the only stage left acceptable for Melky’s act– AND HE SHINED.

Playing the role of chess player as Royals GM is a more intense game than one might think.

A) You build exciting youth and bring them to the show.

B) You can’t afford big names and pull off the mega deal.

C) You bring in blurred wash ups, pay them more than they are worth and PRAY they perform WAY better than intended- like Cabrera.

Then the choice arrives- TRADE them while they are hot, or keep them for continued  future success.

Moore holds firm, believes he got a good market value on Melky, and releases him for the new, shaky, partially proven and inconsistent- like Sanchez. A name that resided in a big market too. Let the banter begin! We all know that if the worst of players on big market rosters came jaunting into Royal locker rooms, the huss and fuss would still take up Kansas City talk radio for a few good days.

So who wins?

Tell me this Royals fans– would you rather have Jeff Francis or Melky Cabrera?

OK I get it, Melky it is.

Now,

Can anyone tell me what separates Jeff Francis from Jonathan Sanchez? I would like a good explanation…

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