Goldman: Yanks don’t need All-Star in center, just better than Melky

Safe as Melk: Or as I like to call him…The Zig-Zag Defender

Meanwhile, since coming off the disabled list, Brett Gardner has hit .333 in sporadic playing time and has showed superior range to Cabrera’s. Melky putters on. His season will culminate in something of a draw. He’s not the abject failure that he was last year, when he had to be sent back to the Minor Leagues, but he still hasn’t established himself as more than a placeholder starter. He’s hitting .273/.335/.415 right now. The average centerfielder is hitting .267/.335/.415. Cabrera isn’t hurting the Yankees, but he’s not a major asset. Now that he is 25, it seems clear that any growth he might experience is going to be incremental rather than exponential, if it happens at all. Cabrera’s swing generates too many ground balls for him to add much in the way of real power outside of Yankee Stadium II, where he has hit eight of his 12 home runs.

It would be unrealistic to expect even a team with the financial capabilities of the Yankees to field an All-Star or MVP candidate at every position, but that’s not a reason to keep striving to get better wherever you can, however you can. It is axiomatic that a team that accepts that it is “good enough” at a position will not win consistently, or at all. Complacency will kill a nascent dynasty faster than hamstring pulls and cigarettes combined.

If Cabrera were flanked by Charlie Keller and Tommy Henrich, his neutral nature wouldn’t be so big a deal, but right now, the Yankees’ 2010 outfield is an unknown. If the club retains Johnny Damon, they can’t control for the fact that he’ll be 36—the age will either show in his work or it won’t. The same goes for Hideki Matsui. They also can’t pretend that Nick Swisher will be any more than what he is, which is very good but inconsistent. They can’t make Austin Jackson into more than what he is, which is a guy who, whatever his other qualities, hit only four home runs this season. They also can’t make Gardner more than what he is, which is probably better than Cabrera but only fractionally. Perhaps the one thing they can do is prioritize center field in the offseason.