Melky Cabrera Sent Down, Bubba Called Up

[nyjunc]

The Mely experiemtn is over for now, hopefully this did not do more damage than help him. He obviously was not ready to play in the Majors, I saw little to nothing that would tell me he is a player but hopefully he goes back down and gets his confidence back and we see the real Melky somewher donw the line. The article below is from today's Post:

YANKEES ROSTER KEEPS REVOLVING

By GEORGE KING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------



July 18, 2005 -- BOSTON — The doors marked "In" and "Out" in the Yankees' universe were swinging hard again yesterday.
In what seemingly is a daily occurrence the Yankees welcomed a suspect pitcher when Aaron Small surfaced from Columbus (Triple-A) and utilityman Russ Johnson was designated for assignment before the 5-3 win over the Red Sox.

After the Yankees took three of four from their blood rivals, the Yankees optioned Melky Cabrera to Columbus. Today they will recall Bubba Crosby to take the 20-year-old Cabrera's place and welcome Kevin Brown back from the DL to start tonight against Texas.

The moves came one day after the Yankees acquired Al Leiter from the Marlins for $400,000 and designated Tim Redding for assignment.

Small, a 33-year-old righty, is slated to start Wednesday night against the muscular Rangers.

While Yankee fans dream of Mike Cameron or Juan Pierre walking in the door to play center or A.J. Burnett, Jason Jennings or Jason Schmidt coming to bolster a staff that has two legitimate starters (Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina) and three huge question marks, Small arrives.

Small, who hasn't started a big-league game since 1996 when he was with Oakland, isn't close to being the Yankees' first choice when it comes to promoting arms from their minor league system.






Sean Henn got two cracks. Darrell May and Tim Redding were promoted ahead of Small, who is 15-10 with a 5.49 ERA in 146 games (three starts) and was 1-4 with a 4.96 ERA for the Clippers.

"I wasn't disappointed they took other people, I was disappointed because I wanted the opportunity and it didn't happen at the time," Small said. "The moves you can't control. I have always said, you pitch where you are."

While Leiter, who pitched brilliantly, is being looked at for more than one start, Small can't peek beyond Wednesday night. If he pitches well, he will likely stick around and could be here until Carl Pavano (shoulder) comes off the DL. GM Brian Cashman said that could be as far as two weeks away.

"I want to make it tough if they want to send me back down," said Small, who was a teammate of Jason Giambi's at South Hills High School in West Covina, Calif., and has pitched for the Blue Jays, Marlins, A's, Diamondbacks and Braves. His last big-league gig was with the Marlins in a second tour last year when he appeared in seven games.

And what if the big Texas bats punish Small? The Yankees will continue to search for arms.

"We are keeping 12 arms for a reason," Cashman said. "Al Leiter pitches [last night] and Kevin Brown comes off the DL [tonight]. Going with 12 pitches is the best thing to do."

Despite the question marks in the rotation Joe Torre doesn't believe the Yanks can afford a drop-off.

"We are in the latter part of our season," said Torre, whose club is a half game out of first place in the AL East. "We need to play at the level we have been playing at. I feel good about our personality. We are fighting and battling. A lot of good things have come out of this."

[General]

I love Bubba Crosby.

[Veovis]

I'd rather Kevin Thompson was called up but w/e.

[Hmark6]

Milkey was brutal, I just hope they didn't ruin any shot he ever had at making it in the Big Leagues.