The travails of Robinson Cano
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- June
- 14
Let’s see if this can be put a delicate way … no, it really can’t.
Robinson Cano stinks.
At least this season he does. Last night’s 0 for 3 dropped him to .217/.260/.316. He is hitless in his last 17 at-bats and 1 of his last 21. Cano has one RBI since May 25. That’s 18 games and 75 plate appearances. In those 75 PAs it seems like he has seen 74 pitches. He is hacking at everything.
The strange thing is that he’s playing the best defense of his life. Cano has more range than Meryl Streep, to his right or left. He’s made life a lot easier for Derek Jeter and especially Jason Giambi. The Big G can basically anchor himself to the bag and let Cano take everything. Trust us when we tell you, that’s for the best.
Cano hit second last night. Could he hit the bench today? With Alberto Gonzalez up, the Yankees have a palatable option. The Attorney General is no Tony Lazzeri with the stick but Cano probably could use a day off.
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on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
With the lefthandr on mound for Astros, I think Cano will hit the bench today.
Actually, I think he should be beched two or three games to send him a message and clear his head. He is too good to be playing so poorly.
I do notice his defense has improved alot, I mean alot, he’s getting to some groundballs he has no business getting to. I’d give him a day of rest.
I think the below quote from Cano, printed in a story today by Pete Caldera (Bergen Record) says it all:
Before the game, Cano said he’s been confounded by his recent slide, but that he didn’t need to change his approach. “Really, it’s a lot of (bad) luck, I think,’’ said Cano”
The problem is between his ears.
give him a day off.
His defense has been excellent, but he really needs a day or two off with the bat. Perhaps some one on one sessions with Kevin Long. I know he misses Bowa, but he’s got to get over that. He’s not a rookie any more.
*PROGRAMING NOT, JEREMY BLEICH IS PITCHING NOW ON ESPN2*
correction ESPN
He’s the 2nd best defensive 2nd baseman in the league now, Pete? behind Polanco?
“Cano probably could use a day off.”
Ya think?
Thompsen needs to make a DVD of all of Cano’s ABs. So he can see the good ones vs. the bad ones. Basically he needs to get back to basics.
If this is being done already, and with that quote saying it’s basically bad luck, then no amount of video will help. God help the Yankees.
Jeremy struck out Rye w/ RISP and got out of trouble
out of the 18 runs scored on Bleich only 4 of them are ER, he has given up 18 R, 4 ER this season.
Brandon,
Both were drafted by the Yankees, no?
Brandon,
Both were drafted by the Yankees, no?
Yes. And this FLA St. team can MASH, Buster Posey is on the other side and Jack Rye (Yankees pick)
Bleich is looking like a solid pick.
Fastball got to 90 mph twice.
2 different offspeed at 67 mph and 77 mph
Brandon, you think that’s bad, check out the guy that’s pitching for Houston tonight–it sounds like he’s the only one on the team that bothers to play any sort of defense
Yeah give Cano and Cabrerra a few days off, might as well give Keving long a vacation too
for real, someone needs to stir the hornets nest, it is way overdue!!!!!!!
All that you really want from your second baseman is a good glove, so what’s the problem?
Who is going to be the answer besides Cano? AG? Is he some sort of hidden hitting machine?
Andy, we don’t need Robbie to be Chase Utley, but we need him to at least hit once in a while.
sick cutter at 3-2 reminds me of Cleveland’s Cliff Lee throwing strikes hitting corners more times than not.
We need to see something from Robbie when he comes up to bat. When he comes up now-I’m already thinking automatic out
Ends the 2nd inning stranding the runner at 2B and striking out the hitter on a 76 mph curveball on the outside corner.
Gonzalez can’t hit much worse. Then again, not many people could. Girardi should probably go with Betemit at 1B and Gonzalez at 2B tonight against the lefty, with Giambi ready to PH off the bench. I guess Damon starts over Matsui too?
Rebecca,
I understand that, but no one in the Yankees system is going to hit that much better AND play as good as defense. He’s not striking out much. He just needs to be a little more patient.
Does he need a night off? Probably. But the thinking that benching him is going to make him hit better is crazy.
By the way, I DO expect him to hit like Chase Utley, but I also understand that slumps happen and the hits will eventually come.
Andy,
One of the reasons we had so many runs last year was that Cano had nearly 100 RBI primarily from the 7-9 spot.
Even though he’s barely above the Mendoza line, he’s still at a nifty career .301.
To say that Cano just needs to bring his glove ignores the fact that he’s an important cog in the Yankee offense. (especially last year when we had Minky, Phelps, Giambi, and Phillips at 1B).
Bleich looks pretty good.
Something for Posey fans to be wary of…he has never shown anything CLOSE to the power she showed this year. hitting .460 is just insane, though.
Something for Cano fans to be worried about. He was a .278 career minor league hitter in nearly 2,000 at bats. He has regressed each of the last three years closer to that number while still showing his aversion to taking bad pitches.
Oh yeh Rebecca he might be the perfect by low guy, if the Stros put Wandy on the market I’d definitely field an offer or two. 18 R/9 ER for Wandy, he’s a tough lefty Mussina better be on tonight.
Andy: For the record, while I expect Robbie to hit, Chase Utley is doing his best A-Rod impression this year.
Cano is not striking out much, you are correct. But putting the ball in play weakly on a good pitchers pitch is not much of a substitute for taking a pitch once in a while. He isn’t walking either.
Joe,
Took my son (just turned 9) to the park to hit balls. He was swinging at the bad stuff until we told him to stop. Even he’s more selective than Cano.
some of these hits aren’t hits in the pros vs Jeremy and he still looks very good location wise, first strike wise, he has alot of Cliff Lee in him.
hi Peter,
Cano will swing at every first pitch whatever it is, it’s just a common sense for any pitcher in MLB.everyone knew it.
you can expect no hittable first pitch for Cano.
here is the recipe:
“DON’T SWING BEFORE STRIKE ONE ”
if it doesn’t work out, at least wastes some pitch counts from opponent’s pitcher.
how do you think ?
mel,
Do you think Alberto Gonzalez is going to be a career .301 hitter? Do you think that AG is going to drive in nearly 100 runs from the 7-9 spot?
All that I am saying is have a little patience.
The hits will come.
rebecca-
last night i said i was hoping for 6 innings and 90 pitches.
well mission accomplished, and the rest did take care of itself.
the unveiling of the two seam fastball he learned from wang is really surprising and interesting.
my first surprise is that he learned it from wang and not eiland. so that means pitchers are learning stuff separate from the pitching coach. interesting.
and to go further wang learned the pitch from neil allen ,so indirectly joba is using allen’s
pitch.
i think this is all great. it just gives credence to my belief that cashman should have rehired allen as a coach for wang because even not being there his influence continues.
2-0 to Posey, throws a strike, then 3-1 to Posey gets hit to hit a fieldable grounder the SS misses.
I see what they mean about his defense not helping him.
2-0 to Posey, throws a strike, then 3-1 to Posey gets him* to hit a fieldable grounder the SS misses.
I see what they mean about his defense not helping him.
gets out of the inning Rye looked overmatched there.
There’s a real danger that Cano is Juan Samuel junior. I’d hate for it to be true, but there was some evidence even the last couple of years that was a possiblity. He’s struggling now so badly that it might be true. Doesn’t matter how well he fields, unless he’s catching every ball hit between 1B and 3RD an OPS below .600 doesn’t cut it. Gonzalez has been tearing up AAA since he started playing every day again — an OPS over .900 since the start of June. While he’s probably no better than an average hitting 2B, that’s a lot better than Cano at this point.
Andy,
I thought that the AG was a SS, not a 1B?
I think that Cano needs to pull his head out of his rear. He can’t do that if he doesn’t admit there’s a problem. Sometimes you have to take a step back (ride the pine).
The slump has lasted 68 games. We can be patient, but for how much longer? I’m not advocating demoting, trading, or replacing Cano. I’m one of the few who wanted to keep him in our discussions here. But it’s not going to fix itself. They need to find out why he had so much success last year. And I don’t think Bowa being gone is the problem.
Man, you all are tough. I’m glad the fans don’t run the team.
Giambi would have been DFA’d, Damon DFA’d, Matsui traded for pitching, Cano traded or benched, Melky traded or benched, Shelley playing 1st everyday, Joba pitching only the 8th, Gardner starting in center…..what else?
Lots of people say that Robbie Cano didn’t forget how to hit. OK, maybe. I hope that’s true and that he remembers soon.
Ever hear the name Eric Hinske?
Andy, I agree with you 99% of the time.
There is reason to worry with Cano, though.
He didn’t do anything special in nearly 2,000 minor league at bats, he still refuses to take pitchers pitches and he has regressed each year towards his minor league totals.
If he were a career .301 hitter in year 9 or 10 of his career and was suffering through a combination slump/hitting balls right at people spell, it would be one thing. But his lack of patience added with lack of production is a real warning sign.
Andy,
I meant 2B, not 1B.
And I hope you’re not referring to me about being tough on the guys. I have too much patience and find redeeming qualities in all our guys.
I was wrong about Giambi, though. Let’s call that one a cumulative reaction to the years of injury and underwhelming performance. I agree with the rest of it, though, and am on the record about it here.
Does anyone see that giant bug?
yeh I saw it Rebecca, what was the name of that kid w/ the “Ted Williams” swing ? #18 in Stanford
Joe,
I’m worried a little, of course. But I will be shocked if Cano doesn’t get it going soon.
Juan Samuel Jr? When Cano strikes out 150 times in a season, I will officially be worried.
Guess the meeting at the mound scared the bug off, nice shot on tv though. I like this Bleich guy, but I still think he was a bit of a reach as a first rounder. Looks like he is pretty polished for a college starter though. Hopefully he can progress through the system rather quickly.
You can literally see Cliff Lee in this kid. His team’s defense especially at SS and 3B stinks.
I can definitely see the Cliff Lee similarity. He has that same weird hitch in his delivery and his location is very good. Supposedly one of his favorite pitchers is Pettitte so not a bad person to try and emulate.
Next Thread JMAC.
Cliff Lee sit in the low 90’s and touched 95 on a good day. This is not Cliff Lee.
I like his fastball location a ton, but he really slows his arm down on the changeup, and he has been mostly mid to high 80’s and touched 90.
Cliff Lee? Jeez, I just don’t see that at all.
Meryl Streep!!
http://johnsterling.blogspot.com/2008/06/pete-abe-quote-of-day.html
We the fans deserve a day off from Cano.