Melky vs. Hoffmann

When the Yankees traded Brian Bruney to the Washington Nationals for the first overall pick in the Rule 5 Draft I was disappointed because I liked Bruney. I expected they would replace him with another reliever. Instead the Yankees selected Jamie Hoffmann from the Dodgers. Perhaps it was Yankees centerfielder Melky Cabrera who should have been disappointed and not me. The Yankees were known to be in the market for starting pitching and every trade rumor seemingly included Melky. It was no surprise when he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in a deal that sent Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. It very well could have been the case that the Yankees anticipated trading Melky away and went about replacing him with Hoffmann.

Both players were born in August of 1984, but Melky has had three full years playing MLB and Hoffmann has spent most of his time in the minor leagues. Melky was a prospect that became a World Series champion in a year he had walk-off hits in key games; Hoffmann was not well-known and barely played in MLB.

thebaseballcube.com scouting reports:

Cabrera on the left, Hoffmann on the right; scouting suggests Hoffmann has good tools.
I fear some scouting has been based on looks rather than talent. It's hard to read "Jamie Hoffmann is a huge physical specimen with big home-run potential" and reconcile that with 36 HR in 2199 minor league At Bats (10 HR maximum in any season; in comparison lightweight Cody Ransom hit 165 HR in a little over twice the number of minor league games and went on to total 7 HR over 7 MLB seasons). mlb.com lists Cabrera at 5'11/200lbs and Hoffmann at 6'3/235lbs. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman spoke about Hoffmann's physicality almost as an asset unto itself:

"He's the type of guy that when he shows up in Spring Training and puts on that uniform, he looks the part. He's that type of physical guy."

Comparing statistics is tricky because Hoffmann spent almost all his time in the minors:

However, the averages suggest a strong similarity (R & RBI stats depend on team):

On the one hand Hoffman's Slugging Percentages are lower than I anticipated, on the other hand they look better than Melky's in most years. The sentimentality of a prospect rising through the farm system with the Yankees, making memorable plays, and helping the team win the World Series all affect Yankees fans when comparing these two players. The fact the team won in 2009 in spite of Cabrera's weak hitting proves Hoffmann could replace Melky's value to the team (above average defense and some speed). At the least, the talent difference is less than I expected when reviewing Hoffmann's numbers independently. Using Melky as a baseline for replacement value is a poor strategy (the point is to improve the team, not to replace someone), yet this comparison might have been done in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. Which brings up the obvious point that the Yankees did not swap Cabrera for Hoffman, the Yankees traded away Brian Bruney who aspires to become the next closer for the Washington Nationals. However, the trade involving Melky landed the Yankees a reliever named Boone Logan. Did the Yankees evalute notice Bruney and Logan had the same WHIP throughout the minor leagues and know Bruney could not be traded to the teams that wanted Melky? Whether or not these evaluations took place, the Yankees managed to add a valuable starting pitcher and my conclusion is the trades made did not worsen the Yankees outfielder situation.