Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Trading Robinson Cano

For my first post, I'll try to reason through the sentiment pervading a lot of the online community in regards to Robinson Cano. After a subpar season, many people are calling for Cano to be traded and understandably so. He signs his contract that locks him up through the arbitration years, and proceeds to have his worst season. Not the start to the contract the Yankees were hoping for.

To trade Cano now is to sell low. He could easily come back next year and post .300/.350/.450 and make the Yankees look foolish. At the same time, if you are going to trade him within the next year, it's got to happen this winter. The Yanks have no real suitable internal replacement for him (Ramiro Pena is too raw with the bat) for them to move him during the year, and I don't see them moving Cano, only to have to make a move for a new 2B. Trading Cano really is only viable if you get Orlando Hudson this offseason. So they're kind of hamstringed in this regard, not to mention the fact that moving Cano for any real immediate MLB impact return is going to require more than just Cano.

The Yankees, in my opinion, are left with no other option that to stick with Cano for the next year, which isn't the worst thing. While I'm not Cano's biggest supporter, I doubt we're going to see the debacle that was this season. He could easily bounce back to a .290/.320./.400 clip next year, which makes him an above average 2B.

In the long run however, I don't think we're ever going to really get consistency from Cano. His impact is tied too closely to his BA because of his approach (or lack thereof) at the plate. While he showed great improvement in his walk rate from 2006 (18) - 2007 (39), he regressed somewhat this past year (26) in comparable at bats. He's never going to be a great OBP guy, and if he struggles with his swing, he's going to be a sub-par player.

Next year, lets revisit this idea when its more productive (and feasible) to do so. As for now, let's live with Robinson Cano as our 2B and consider ourselves lucky its one of the larger issues facing the Yankees. A lot of teams would kill to have that problem.

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