Melky to farm; Sexson to pasture

The Yanks made two roster moves this afternoon, optioning center fielder Melky Cabrera to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre and releasing first baseman Richie Sexson.

While best buddy Robbie Cano has looked like a man adrift at sea this season, Melky has looked like a player exposed at the big league level. After a solid April, Cabrera fell apart, batting .234/.206/.272 in May, June and July. He was 3-for-26 (.115) in August and had recently lost his starting job. He had four RBIs after June 25, which is a pretty freaking hard feat to pull off when you're playing just about every day. He'll certainly return when the roster expands on Sept. 1, but whether he's with the Yanks in 2009 is up for debate. I'd take him as a fourth outfielder, but I wouldn't lose sleep if the Melk Man's pinstripe days were numbered.

As for Sexson, there's not much to say. A veteran with the tank on empty, he batted .250 with 10 strikeouts in 28 at-bats over 22 games. He had a grand slam in a loss to the Rangers last week, but otherwise was completely lost at the plate. The Yanks took a flier on Sexson last month after the Mariners cut him, obviously it didn't work out. With little money involved, it was worth the gamble. Scary how a player's skill-set can just disappear sometimes. It's certainly possible this is the end of the line for Sexson.

Outfielder Brett Gardner and infielder Cody Ransom have been added to the roster. I don't know much about Ransom, but I do know that Girardi will now have two blazing speed options on the bench in Gardner and Justin Christian. This is always an underrated aspect to a reserve core.