Berkman for Paredes and Melancon

Written by Sean P | 31 July 2010

The Lance Berkman trade is official. The Yankees will trade Jimmy Paredes and Mark Melancon in order to acquire the Houston switch hitter.

Jimmy Paredes is a speedy SS in Charleston (A) who currently is hitting .280/.307/.403 with 34 SBs in 433 PA’s. The switch hitting 21 year old obviously doesn’t walk very much, only 4.2% of the time but has been working on his strike zone discipline and approach this year. Baseball America labeled him the Yankees 14^th best prospect entering 2010. Some scouts believe that he has a chance to hit for some power as a SS due to his good bat speed and although his defense isn’t otherworldly, he should be able to stay at the position (UPDATED: reports on defense are all over the place).We didn't have him in our pre-season top 30, and speaking for myself, I couldn’t envision him as anything more than a utility player at this point.

Mark Melancon is someone you’re probably more familiar with, as he’s had shots in the Bronx both this year and last. Melancon hasn’t had a ton of success in the big leagues so far (20 IP, 5.75 K/9, 4.87 ERA, 4.53 FIP). Melancon has always been able to get a lot of swing and misses and keep the ball on the ground but has struggled a bit this year in AAA. His walks are up (12% of PA’s) and the strikeouts are down (22.5% of PA’s). His past two seasons in AAA he’s had FIPs of 2.54 and 2.82 respectively, while this year it’s at 4.15. The 25 year old works primarily with a 90-94 fastball, a good deceptive low 80’s curveball and a decent change-up.

Berkman obviously isn't the player he once was but considering who the Yankees were trotting out regularly at DH, he's quite the upgrade. He’s currently hitting .245/.372/.436 but ZIPS projects a rest of season line of .267/.384/.489. He plays a pretty solid 1B but he'll obviously be stationed at DH for his short Yankee career.

In my opinion, this deal is pretty good for both sides. The Astros get salary relief as part of their rebuilding process along with two decent prospects. Paredes doesn't really excite me at all but he has some potential according to who you ask. Melancon could probably help the Astros right now, but either way he's a cost controlled RP for the next few years. If he can regain his form, he'd be a nice back end option for Houston. The Yankees get the rental they were looking for and hope Berkman can produce for them. Hopefully he'll continue to get on base and hit for some power in New York.