Wouldn't You Know? Jose Tabata is Now Tearing up His League

It didn't take long for the Yankeeverse to fling buckets of judgement on Jose Tabata, the former future Yank hall-of-famer we flipped for Xavier Nady and Home Run Marte (Marte, by the way, is Spanish for "Traber.")

As soon as we traded Tabata, the verdict was unanimous.

Guilty.

Head case. Maturity issues. Lack of hustle. Less power. Middling talent. No loss.

No surprises, here. The Yank Matrix hypes Yanks farmhands like crotch shots of Britney Spears. Every 19-year-old future phys. ed. teacher we sign out of some Dirt Track League is the next Roberto Clemente -- that is, until we trade him for some washed up El Guapo and a deck of French playing cards. Then he becomes a future never-was -- another reason to stand and salute the human computer/corporate performance artist that is Brian Cashman.

Well, OK... for the record... we favored the Nady trade.

Our philosphy? What the hell. Back then, it looked like we were in a Wild Card race. (AND WE STILL ARE, BTW. SEVEN OF NINE, BABY, SEVEN OF NINE!)

Also for the record, the Pirates -- pleasuring themselves with Jeff Karstens -- now have their hands under the jiggling table over Tabata.

In 12 games since the trade, Tabata is hitting nearly .400 with power (1 HR) and speed (4 SB.)

Maybe there was something to those comparisons to Manny, after all.