Yesterday, I mentioned that the Brewers need not do anything rash to make a splash after losing out on the CC Sabathia sweepstakes. Hopefully this won't end up qualifying:

The Yankees would upgrade with Gold Glove-winner Mike Cameron, who turns 36 next month and is a free agent again after the 2009 season, and the Brewers would get an affordable left-handed bat in 24-year-old switch-hitter Melky Cabrera, who is just entering his arbitration years.

As McCalvy notes, this was actually discussed a while back as a possibility, along with maybe including some other players in the deal as well.  Unless the Brewers do receive other players, it's hard to see how this deal makes any sense for them.  Going into the off-season, they were looking to upgrade their lineup by adding at least one left handed bat and also add a "true" lead-off man. Ostensibly, that is what Cabrera is, as he bats left handed, doesn't strike out much and runs some. Appearances can, and in this case are, deceiving.

First off, since his surprising 2006 season, his walk rate and batting average have been dropping. He never had much power, and he has less now than when he came up. He isn't a lead-off hitter unless he bumps both his walk rate and batting average by quite a bit, which is a speculative proposition at best. He doesn't have the sort of power that you would want out of a 6th hitter, unless he taps into some power he's never shown before. Basically, he's a 7th hitter with very limited upside. Mike Cameron takes a lot of guff from fans for the strikeouts and the low batting average, but even accepting those limitations, he really blows away the production that can be expected from Cabrera.

So then what is the logic behind this move if it isn't about making the team better this season? It has been speculated that a driving force here is the desire to clear salary so that the Brewers can make other moves, such as signing a veteran starter or a closer. Getting a starter on a short term contract makes sense, but considering the offer they had on the table to Sabathia, shouldn't there be at least some room to do that without having to downgrade centerfield significantly? As for using that money to extend a big offer to a closer, that seems like a bad move given the state of the market for relievers this year.

The other plausible explanation is more disheartening: the team may just be looking to clear his salary because they don't plan on contending this season and don't mind the inevitable drop off. If that's the case, though, then why would they be hot on the trail of a closer? A proven stopper is the last thing that a team not planning on contending needs, as they are almost always better served by just running open auditions for the job until they find someone who can do it.

So I'm having trouble seeing the logic here. If they plan on contending this year, why are they making a major downgrade in their lineup? If they aren't planning on making a push this season, why would they be looking at short term fixes in the pen and the rotation for big money? Hopefully Melvin will make a string of moves in the coming weeks that illuminates the wisdom of this trade. He'll need to, because right now, this is a pretty big head-scratcher.