I only have sentiment on my side here, but I’m disappointed the Yankees traded Melky Cabrera for Javier Vasquez. Vasquez’s numbers remain impressive, but I have a phobia of trades for National League starters in their early 30s. And Melk — he turned his career around, showed clear improvement after his late-08 demotion to the minors. The loss of Cabrera might also diminish the performance of his friend Robi Cano. But I don’t feel qualified to make a clear judgment about the wisdom of this move.

I feel somewhat reassured that Sluggahjells is similarly unsure about this.

But to get rid of Cabrera and on the rise prospect [gahhh we're also losing Arodys] Vizciano though for Vasquez doesn’t make me jump for joy over this deal. Cabrera has proven himself to be a very serviceable young player for this team, much more than a lot of people thought he would be. It is tough to see him go.

He makes the additional point that this might clear the way to resigning Johnny Damon. But there’s still a $6 million gap in the Damon/Yankees negotiations that needs to be closed. If Damon and Scott Boras decide to interpret the Melky trade as an overture that Damon can come back if he’ll just finally drop his asking price, great — but it still depends on Damon dropping his asking price. The Yankees will take on some risk by making Brett Gardner their starting left fielder, but it’s hardly a high-risk strategy. A Gardner-Granderson-Swisher outfield is a pretty solid outfield, defensively and offensively. Would it be better if Gardner had to compete with Damon for his job? Sure. But in the final analysis, Damon will be a Yankee next year if and only if he drops his price.

The good news? We’re the New York Yankees! Just as with Austin Jackson, if Melky develops into a dominant player, we can always buy him back later! Too big to fail! So goodbye Melky. I’ll always remember that time you robbed Manny of a homer at the Stadium and then ran back to the dugout amped up.