How Bad Was Cano?
Posted by Steve L. on October 6th, 2008 · Comments (5)
Robinson Cano had 634 Plate Appearances in 2008. And, on the whole, he did not bat well. How bad was he – compared to other Yankees who had at least 630 PA in a season who also batted poorly? To the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia! And, here’s your answer:
PLAYER YEAR OWP PA Frankie Crosetti 1940 .227 633 Bobby Richardson 1961 .318 706 Frankie Crosetti 1937 .348 721 Bobby Richardson 1965 .352 713 Horace Clarke 1973 .356 650 Bobby Richardson 1966 .364 648 Bobby Richardson 1964 .365 728 Horace Clarke 1970 .371 732 Frankie Crosetti 1939 .377 743 Ro. Peckinpaugh 1914 .378 635 Aaron Ward 1922 .382 641 Mark Koenig 1926 .389 678 Robinson Cano 2008 .397 634 Joe Dugan 1923 .398 684 Red Rolfe 1940 .399 647
PLAYER YEAR RCAA PA Frankie Crosetti 1940 -45 633 Frankie Crosetti 1937 -32 721 Bobby Richardson 1961 -29 706 Bobby Richardson 1965 -23 713 Frankie Crosetti 1939 -23 743 Bobby Richardson 1964 -22 728 Aaron Ward 1922 -21 641 Horace Clarke 1970 -20 732 Joe Dugan 1923 -20 684 Horace Clarke 1973 -20 650 Mark Koenig 1926 -20 678 Robinson Cano 2008 -18 634 Red Rolfe 1940 -18 647 Bobby Richardson 1966 -18 648 Ro. Peckinpaugh 1914 -17 635
This tells us that Cano, in terms of guys with 630+ PA, had the worst season with the bat, for the Yankees, since Horace Clarke back in 1973.
Can a guy be that bad and also be a future superstar (as many claim Cano can yet be)? I dunno…
The guy has such scary natural talent that I’m very reluctant to give up on him yet. He could be our position-player version of Scott Kazmir.
Bottom line: unless he is vital to a trade that would bring a franchise player in a needed position (starting pitcher, center field, maybe catcher) then I would keep him.
i’m not overly attatched to cano, but like ken, don’t want to 1. give up on him and definitely 2. don’t want to sell low on him.
even if you take cano’s worst career line to date, this year, he hit .271 with 35 doubles and 14 homers. (and the only reason those numbers are so low is a .151 april, as he didn’t hit below .287 in a month the rest of the way…one bad month can crush your season). and that line is better than a majority of second baseman in baseball if he can play passable defense.
my thing with cano is that i’m just not sure what his mental makeup is. so streaky and he seems to let one side of the ball affect the other side if things aren’t going well.
i have no idea if cano can be a superstar, but i do think he is better than what he showed this year, and that makes him one of the better 2b’s in the game. i’d move him in the right deal, but you can’t sell low on talent he has shown on the major league level over a much larger sample size than this year. and i think if we do hold onto him, we’ll get the player closer to his career line. even if that isn’t superstar caliber, it’s something that will help the team at a position where offense is tough to find.
I dunno about a superstar, but the October before the worst of his several seasons on the list, Bobby Richardson was good enough to be the MVP of the World Series that Mazeroski won with his HR in game 7; one of the best World Series performances ever, in fact.
Hmmm…just did a season search from 1970 to 2008. Criteria: lowest OPS+, Batting Title qualifiers, non-pitchers. Searched the bottom 500 player/seasons.
Among the seasons on the list that deserve checking out:
Ozzie Smith, 1979 (age 24) OPS+: 48. Also, 1981 (age: 26) OPS+: 62, and 1980 (Age 25), OPS+ 71
Scott Brosius, 1997 (age 30; yes, the year BEFORE Watson traded for him, the year before his fine 1998 season) OPS+: 53
Bret Boone, 1996 (age 27) OPS+: 64
Larry Bowa, 1970 (age 24) OPS+: 57, also 1971 (age 25) OPS+: 67
Terry Pendleton, 1986 (age 25) OPS+: 62, also 1985 (age 24) OPS+: 66
Lou Whitaker, 1980 (age 23, which was NOT his 1st full season in the majors, it was his 3rd, and by far his worst) OPS+: 69
Manny Trillo, 1975 and 1976 (Ages 24 and 25), OPS+, 71 and 70, respectively. He then went on to be a key member of the 1980 champion Phillies, winning a Silver Slugger for 2nd base. He also made four All-Star teams and 3 Gold Gloves (while also being regarded as a player who coasted on superior talent, same as Cano).
I don’t know where Stephen Drew’s career is headed, but last season, at age 24, his OPS+ was 72, and this season, he hit over .290 with 76 extra base hits and an OPS+ of 111.
Aramis Ramirez, in his 2nd full season at age 24 in 2002, OPS+: 72.
Darin Erstad is not exactly my cup of tea, but at age 25 in 1999, OPS+: 74. The year before, he was 18th in the MVP voting, and the year after, he was 8th.
In Lloyd Moseby’s 1st 3 full seasons at age 20, 21, 22, in 1980-2, his OPS+ figures were 73, 78, and 74. The next two seasons he was at 137 and 122, winning a Silver Slugger in 1983, and getting some MVP votes in both 1983 and 1984.
Edgar Renteria, 2001, (age 25), OPS+: 77. In 2003 and 2004, he would win the Silver Slugger at short in 2003, draw some MVP votes in both years, and made the All-Star team in 2004 and 2005. Also, 1997, his 2nd full season at age 21, OPS+ 80. He was 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting the year before, and made the All-Star team the year after.
Cano’s OPS+ for the 2008 season? 88. Hall of Fame? I guess not. All-Star, MVP vote-getter, and postseason performer…why not?
Just for funsies, I ran the same search for Melky, but I had to cut the PA requirement to 400 in order to allow Melky’s 2008 season to make the list.
It was 38th worst among regular CF since 1970.
However, even worse than Melky’s 2008 season was Mike Cameron’s age 25 season in 1998, ranked 19th at OPS+ of 63, Brian Anderson’s 2006 season at age 24, ranked 21st at an OPS+ of 65, Juan Pierre’s 2002 season at age 24, ranked 31st at an OPS+ of 68 (which didn’t keep him from helping the Marlins beat the Yanks in the 2003 World Series), and Carlos Beltran (no mistake) in his 2nd full season at age 23 in 2000, ranked 35th at and OPS+ of 69.
All of them worse than Melky’s season this year, OPS+ of 70.