Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Mar 15, 2010 
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He’s still just 27 years old, but Robinson Cano is now a five-year major league veteran and he’ll take a bigger role in the Yankees lineup this season. Cano is expected to bat fifth for the Yankees, in a lineup that manager Joe Girardi will debut in Tuesday’s exhibition game against the Astros.
That story also has a few notes on yesterday’s game, CC Sabathia’s improved mechanics and the latest round of cuts from big league camp.
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There is absolutely nothing going on at George M. Steinbrenner Field today. No game. No workouts. No batting practice or bullpen sessions. The entire team has the day off before going back at it on Tuesday.
Good for them – hope they enjoy their day off.
I’m still skeptical of Cano, but I hope he can pull this off.
Cano is gonna have a monster season batting fifth. 25+ HR and 100+ RBI is almost a lock with the quality of the people batting in front of him.
Betsy
“Rich, you don’t seem very happy with the Yankees at all. $10 million is a LOT Of $$ – just how much did you want them to throw at this kid? You want the Yankees to do what they did with FA? Give him whatever he wanted to bribe him to come here? That’s a horrible business practice and something Cash has been trying to get away from. The kid did not want to come here- he wanted to play sooner rather than later. $$ can not fix that, nor should the Yankees have tried to use $$$ to fix that. I don’t care about history; let Jeter be the first SS to play his whole career there. If he starts getting to a point where he can’t do it, the Yankees will rectify it. This is a case where they are completely blameless.”
I don’t think that’s a reasonable reading of the totality of my posts.
I defend Cashman as much, if not more, than anyone on this or any board. But I also point out where I think he has made mistakes.
My problem in this instance is with Hal. I think he is truncating the IFA budget. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have offered Hechevarria another $3m. They are burning that much on the extremely fungible Gaudin.
You don’t know what the kid was thinking and neither do I. We don’t know how persuadable he might have been to the right pitch.
Anyway, money talks, often loudly.
Robbie has so much potential…hopefully this a break out year for him.
SJ
“Less than 5% of ALL players drafted each year make the major leagues. The numbers are even smaller for the total number of IFA’s signed every year.”
If the reports are accurate, and they offered Hechevarria $10m, they almost certainly think that his chances of making it are greater than 5%.
Again, they have a position player deficit in the high minors. That leaves them vulnerable to injuries or declines on the ML roster, particularly to players over 35. They need to find a way to address that before an emergency develops.
vb03
March 15th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Cano is gonna have a monster season batting fifth.
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I think so too
Rich,
In your breakdown you used the word “may” 3 different times about 3 different things. I see your point but the Yankees I think have grown to proceed with extreme cation with these international guys. I know they wanted the kid but there are all kinds of risks from language barriers to cultural differences to not having baseball experience in this country. As they did with Chapman they chose not to get into a bidding war for an unproven player…they’ve been burned one too many times it seems.
13 million is too much for that kid Rich.
Plus, overpaying for an IFA isn’t wise. It’s as unwise as overpaying at the ML level.
You make it sound as if this is the only kid they could sign. It isn’t. Kids come along every year.
I answered in the other thread why it’s untrue that Hal is truncating the IFA budget.
blake
Yes, I use may because of the speculative nature of the topic and our imperfect knowledge.
I wish they would exercise similar caution with the Gaudin, Winn, Thames, Mitre, Park type of players because I don’t think they get as much bang for their buck from that outlay as they would by investing the same money in IFAs or kids they draft with signability issues.
Rich,
the position player deficit in the high minors doesn’t affect this situation since this kid isn’t yet ready to play in the majors. He’s probably a AA kid right now.
SJ
Why is $10m prudent and $13m imprudent. You’re not going to hit with some WAR analysis are you?
More seriously, no, Hechevarria is a proxy for what I believe is a defect in Hal’s current player personnel business model. Despite your assertion, I see a pattern emerging that demonstrates a contrary picture.
Gotta work.
SJ
If Hechevarria didn’t think he was close, I don’t think he would have opted for the BJays because Jeter’s presence wouldn’t be an issue (assuming that report is accurate).
I’ll check in later.
There is no proof of that Rich.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Odds and history suggests they will get more major league results for the money invested in those guys than for spending 10 million dollars on any one IFA.
Erin March 15th, 2010 at 8:46 am
vb03
March 15th, 2010 at 8:36 am
Cano is gonna have a monster season batting fifth.
***********************
I think so too
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He has tons of protection in that lineup, and tons of on base guys in front of him. It’s the perfect time to break out, and I think this is the year he becomes the best 2B in the AL.
If Cano excells this year, improving his RISP, he’ll be batting 5th for years to come.
Think of this lineup (top 5) for years -
Derek Jeter,
Jesus Montero (high ave. with power, could move to slot #3)
Mark Teixeira,
Alex Rodriguez,
Robinson Cano.
If Gardner excells he could bat leadoff with Jeter moving to slot #2.
Montero would move to #6 which is probably where he’ll start his major league career anyway.
Hopefully with such a lineup the dynasty days will be fun.
Cano could be the all time Yankee hits leader by the time he retires, if he stays in pinstripes.
“Before it was Derek Jeter, now it’s Robinson Cano!”
Imagine that.
Rich,
Every player believes he is close to the majors. He isn’t the judge.
If Hal is spending over slot in the draft and offering huge bonuses on the IFA market, how is he being cheap? Because he won’t give this kid 3 million more to sign?
For that 3 million, you can sign 10 IFA’s and increase your odds of finding a player.
Deciding not to overpay for someone isn’t being cheap. It’s being smart.
Losing out on this kid doesn’t bother me too much, considering Jeter will be here for the next 3-5 years.
At the same time, this organization lacks serious depth at any position aside from pitcher and catcher, a weakness that causes us to overpay and over-trade for position players when we need them.
While the Yankees have unlimited financial resources, it would alleviate alot of financial pressure if we could develop @ least 2 position players for the ML club.
SS and CFers or athletic outfielders are bought and traded for @ a premium, so the Yanks would be wise to have a few candidates in the wings, so they can continue to throw their money @ SP’s, and other holes.
yanks weren’t cheap, he wanted a quick ticket to the majors. yank will find somebody else or buy him if hw good enough to be a major leaguer
Wait until after this minor league season to discuss organizational depth.
There is a lot of position player talent in Tampa and Charleston that may change some folks perceptions of the farm system.
I don’t get why it’s a good idea to overpay, either; it’s a sign of desperation and the Yankees are not desperate.
That’s right. I think the Yankees are behind on their positional players (except for catcher) because they chose to focus on pitching and catching when Cash gained control. They’ve tried to draft INF and OF recently, I believe. However, they have 1 good OF prospect in Heathcott and no good INF prospect. Of course, the only INF prospect they really need right now is a SS….
I don’t think the Yankees will need another MLB-ready IF prospect for another 4 years. Jeter keeps himself in great shape and I doubt he will be done at the position anytime soon.
What are the Yankees going to do with any INF prospects they do develop? Alex, Tex and Cano are here for the long haul; are the Yanks going to trade all their kids (the ones that prove to be talented enough to be big league prospects)? I’m sort of even thinking of a Gerald Laird. I don’t know how good he is, but he seems like he can hit a little based on his ML stats and he showed a very strong arm. He’s got no future in the organization…
Betsy -Romine wasn’t built in a day March 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
What are the Yankees going to do with any INF prospects they do develop? Alex, Tex and Cano are here for the long haul; are the Yanks going to trade all their kids (the ones that prove to be talented enough to be big league prospects)? I’m sort of even thinking of a Gerald Laird. I don’t know how good he is, but he seems like he can hit a little based on his ML stats and he showed a very strong arm. He’s got no future in the organization…
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They’ll trade anyone who has value and has no future within the organization for whatever the big league team needs. The Yankees aren’t a team that will wait around for prospects to find their way at the big league level at the cost of wins. The great thing is that in the last 5 years they have learned to use the minor league system more effectively, such as the Abreu, Granderson and Vazquez trades. They aren’t using the minor league system to trade for downhill players on the wrong side of 35 anymore.
since there is so much interest in the potential of high level IFAs, is there a list of the top 50 foreign bonus babies and their eventual fates? i presume that most of them were signed in the last few years, so there should be a lot of them still working their way up through the systems.
rich in nj-
i read you’re worried that some young players won’t sign with the yankees because they are blocked by jeter.
why not worry about young players not signing at first base, second base,shortstop,catcher( because of montero), and starting pitchers because even major prospects like joba chamberlain and phil hughes do not get spots in the rotation after three to four years in the system even when they have”nothing to lose in the minors ?
the fact is the yankees have very little room for players to learn on the job.
that said,i think each year they should pick a spot and have the rest of the team cover for this developmental player as he gets the wiggle room to learn on the job.
this could be a starter , talented reliever, or position player.
as for worrying that a player won’t sign with the yankees because he thinks he might not be able to beat out an aging star when that young player has his youth and talent going for him, do the yankees really want that kind of player who shies away from competition ?
Let’s hope Robbie doesn’t lead the league in GIDP.
Off Topic
GB/Betsy-
Since you 2 like puns. I thought you might like these.
——-
Job Hunt
1. My first job was working in an Orange Juice factory,
but I got canned. Couldn’t concentrate.
2. Then I worked in the woods as a Lumberjack, but just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.
3. After that, I tried being a Tailor, but wasn’t suited for it — mainly because it was a sew-sew job.
4. Next, I tried working in a Muffler Factory, but that
was too exhausting.
5. Then, tried being a Chef – figured it would add a little spice
to my life, but just didn’t have the thyme.
6. Next, I attempted being a Deli Worker, but any way I sliced it… couldn’t cut the mustard.
7. My best job was a Musician, but eventually found
I wasn’t noteworthy.
8. I studied a long time to become a Doctor, but didn’t
have any patience.
9. Next, was a job in a Shoe Factory. Tried hard but just didn’t fit in.
10. I became a Professional Fisherman, but discovered
I couldn’t live on my net income.
11. Managed to get a good job working for a Pool Maintenance Company, but the work was just too draining.
12. So then I got a job in a Workout Center, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job.
13. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a Historian – until I realized there was no future in it.
14. My last job was working in Starbucks, but had to quit because
it was the same old grind.
15. SO, I TRIED Retirement AND FOUND I’M PERFECT FOR THE JOB!
Erica,
Don’t know if you ever got an answer to your question about finding old comments. In the past, I’ve just used Google. You can tack on “site:yankees.lhblogs.com” to search only this blog.
E.g.,
http://www.google.com/search?q.....hblogs.com (Wow, I’ve commented more often than I thought.)
Hope that helps.
Stanzy-
Thank you-
I was able to find what I was looking for last night, but this will def be helpful for the future!
Cano is a great hitter. He’s going to have Posada as protection. He’ll have a great year.
It’s a non-issue.
Bohdi-
Robbie Cano.
The new Matsui.
New Post: Down at the complex
A lot of good points are made above. Let me try to summarize:
1. There “appears” to be a lack of top position player prospects in the Yankees farm
1a. There isn’t a lot of need for top position player prospects for the infield for the next few years. The first need will be whenever Jeter becomes no longer effective in the field at SS.
2. The lower-level minors do have some signs of decent prospects coming up
3. The success rate of IFA’s is lower than the success rate of FA’s (probably due in part to 1) more difficult to evaluate, and 2) culture adaptation difficulties)
4. Dispute about whether or not it is/was smart to pass up Hechevarria, or whether the Yankees should have upped their offer.
4a. The Yankees could have afforded to up their offer by $3 mill or so, so why not.
4b. Comments about how soon Hechevarria would be ready for the Majors- his opinion vs Yankees’ scouts’ opinions.
5. Cano probably batting 5th- hoping/expecting he will have a “monster year”.
6. vb03 suggests that Cano could eventually become the Yankees all-time hits leader. So, I did a little look at their comparative stats for their first 5 yrs (ignoring the limited MLB time Jeter had in 1995):
a. Jeter had 121 more H’s in 227 more AB’s (and 478 more PA’s)
b. Jeter had better OPS- .865 vs .818, though Cano’s SLG was slightly higher (.480 vs .470)
c. Jeter had much better BB rate- .096 vs .042 (more than twice)
d. Jeter had worse SS rate- .160 vs .110 (about 50% worse)
e. Jeter had substantially more H, R, 3B and SB. Cano had more 2B and HR, though Jeter still had more TB.
So, I don’t know, but, I look for Cano to have many more years of great contributions to the Yankees. But. I am skeptical that he of whether he could have more career hits than Jeter.
vb03:
Open your eyes! Did you watch any games last year including
the playoffs? Cano is totally non-clutch!
With runners in scoring position he plays pepper with
the secpnd baseman.
Many of his hits are with two out and nobody on base1
This will be a disasterous move for the Yanks.
Put Cano at number 2 if you must but not behind A-Rod.
Teams will pitch around A-Rod with Cano behind him in
the lineup.
Put Tex behind A-Rod and move Nick Johnson to the 3 hole.
Johnson has a much better OBP than Cano.