Comments on: Fight, Fight

By: singledd

singledd — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:20:32 +0000

38. Either shoot Woemack or shoot me!

By: Bob B

Bob B — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:58:41 +0000

37. Go along with what you haveand let the chips fall. Don't forget next season there is no Bernie, no Brown which frees up a lot of salary and you have a dynamite infield with A-rod, Jeter and Cano (don't even think of trading him.) Interesting to think about where the team would be this year if they stood pat on the pitchers they had last year.Probably no better than this years model but maybe better. Interesting tothink where they would be if they had Omar as GM........(Pedro and Beltran.........definitely first place)

By: joe in boston

joe in boston — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:50:14 +0000

36. Not to oversimplify or anything...but in my eyes, a win is a win. Let's keep it going.

By the way, those eyebrows of Woemacks are very disturbing to say the least.

By: Oscar Azocar

Oscar Azocar — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:03:24 +0000

35. Does anybody have advanced stats on Cano’s fielding, such as Fielding Rate, or Fielding Runs Above Average Replacement?

Here are the only tidbits I’ve found about Cano’s fielding. His zone rating is .846. He’s not qualified (probably not enough games yet), but if he were, he would rank 5th among the 16 other MLB second basemen that are qualified. His fielding pct of .973 would put him near the bottom (right above Soriano) if he were qualified. Don’t know if this link works:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding?seasonType=2&sortOrder=true&split=80&groupId=9&season=2005&qualified=1&sortColumn=zoneRating

The zone rating stat does have its limitations, but it does show that Cano does have good range. I’m sure he can improve on the errors, but range is something that you can’t teach. Just from observation, he also has a very quick release on his throws. I’d like to see him stay and develop as a Yankee, but please…learn to take a few more walks!

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:47:49 +0000

34. Cano's a keeper but I wouldn't mind seeing what the Yankees could get for Wang. His low strikeout rate is worrisome and I'm not particularly confident in his effectiveness once the other teams become more familiar with him.

By: K9walker

K9walker — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:46:28 +0000

33. cool nive story i was gettin the baltimore feed yesterday was a bit mystified by the call

By: jalexei

jalexei — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:13:16 +0000

32. Thanks for the link re the balk - was getting the Baltimore feed last night and was a bit mystified by the call.

By: rbj

rbj — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:54:39 +0000

31. The Orioles’ broadcast was using a poor angle on Kline’s balk:
http://www.baseballmusings.com/#010032
From the CF camera it was hard to see it.
Also an interesting item over at Baseball Crank:
http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2005/06/baseball_what_a.php
Cano is +3 over replacement level, Bernie is -3.
Pavano is -3, Wright is -4, Brown is -2, Q is -3

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:35:16 +0000

30. I agree with not trading Sheff or Georgie. I think they could replace Gordon or Matsui though. I like both of those guys, but I'm just sayin...

By: Schteeve

Schteeve — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:15:19 +0000

29. Kline balked, end of story. And trading Posada has to be out of the question, you can't replace the guy as others have mentioned. I also don't think trading Sheffield would be anything but a give up move.

As for Cano. All the people who are calling him mediocre and expendable are showing the same exact myopia that got this team in the mess it's in.

Cano isn't rookie of the year material but he has shown that he has the tools to be a very solid major leaguer. Of course there are no guarantees, but if you only kept rookies with .900+ OPS's and called the rest of them mediocre failures and traded them for "proven veterans" after half a season in the bigs, you'd be well, the Yankees.

By: JohnnyC

JohnnyC — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:12:38 +0000

28. Cano was supposed to be in the Randy Johnson deal and thus was not in their plans for 2005 or 2006 or any year at that point. Cashman has already admitted that not re-signing Cairo was his idea due to what he considered an unreasonable salary demand by Miguel's former agent. For whatever reason, Cashman AND the Tampa contingent considered Womack a better, more economical alternative to either Cairo or Polanco. And, let's remember, it was Cashman's express order to Torre to start Cano not a request from Torre. As usual, Torre hates rookies, hates having to teach, and can't "trust" them. It's a minor miracle Wang and Cano have succeeded as well they have DESPITE Torre and Mel. Same can't be said for Henn, who'll probably end up winning games in the National League as soon as August.

By: Nick from Washington Heights

Nick from Washington Heights — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:49:36 +0000

27. rsmith, so true. that is the most puzzling thing about signing womack to be a starter. Actually, the most puzzling thing about signing Woemack is signing him.

But, I think Cano has outperformed a lot of bloggers expectations. His game has seemed to jumped to another level from last year.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:41:25 +0000

26. I like his swagger too. There was a quote by ARod (I think) saying that he's the cockiest rookie he's seen. But not in a bad way, he's just self-assured.

Cano better watch out. Tim McCarver could develop a man crush on him too.

By: rsmith51

rsmith51 — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:35:23 +0000

25. Cliff,

What were you wrong about? Cano could use another year of seasoning, but anybody could have predicted he would be at least equal to Womack. Except for the Yankee brain trust apparently, and I use the word "brain" loosely.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:33:58 +0000

24. Actually, his major drawback is his low walk rate, which points to why I was down on him in the spring. I didn't think he could hit in the majors (or at least wouldn't be able to this year). Again, I was wrong.

By: Nick from Washington Heights

Nick from Washington Heights — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:33:13 +0000

23. This has no real value but to my eyes Cano is a very good 2b. It seems that less balls are getting through the middle, that he sets himself up well to make strong throws from the hole. Offensively, he hits a lot of balls hard. And his swing is oh so nice. I hope they have patience with him.

By: JohnnyC

JohnnyC — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:25:58 +0000

22. Many sources discounted Cano as a real prospect, bolstered by the assumption that Arizona wasn't interested in him (and how they knew this we'll never be told...tricks of the journalism trade?). What they were most wrong about...and the dead giveaway that they never saw the guy play...is that they declared him a subpar fielder with a minus arm (?). Say what you will about his glove but Cano's got a strong, accurate arm. The increase in DPs turned by the Yankees attests to that. Within the Yankees camp, as Kaat has voiced several times, Cano made his biggest impression in Spring Training with his defense. So much so that, contrary to the way it was portrayed in the media, Kaat et al. saw his promotion as a defensive move not an offensive one. Since then, of course, he's also been impressive with his Rod Carew-like swing and more than occasional power. His major drawback, really, is lack of base-stealing speed although he's a good baserunner.

By: Cliff Corcoran

Cliff Corcoran — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:15:09 +0000

21. Which reminds me, if I haven't said it elsewhere (and I'll be sure to say it again). I was very very wrong about Cano this spring. I should be so wrong more often.

By: JohnnyC

JohnnyC — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:14:02 +0000

20. Anderson's supposedly coming up after they release Quantrill this week. I'd prefer the Yankees adopt the policy of bringing up the hot arm or bat instead of adhering to the "most advanced" prospect rule. Other teams have noticed that certain AA players are closer to the majors than AAA players and promote them, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Sean Henn didn't work out but it doesn't disprove the concept. Trenton hurlers like Justin Pope and Ben Julianel are having very good seasons out of the pen.

By: murphy

murphy — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:04:56 +0000

19. oh yeah… almost forgot

player A = Cano
player B = Jeter’s first year 50 AB as a starter
player C = ditto on Soriano

i like my chances…

keep cano above all else.