The longer Manny is out there the more I think they’ll sign him and just plug him in at DH.

Worse comes to worse, batting Cano 3rd would ensure a monster A-Rod year (no runners on base)

I’ve been watching baseball since 1973. And, since 1973 I’ve always heard that your best all-around hitter should bat third.

Is Robinson Cano the Yankees best all-around hitter?
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The fact we are even discussing it just proves that the Yankees lineup is not as good as it used to be. He has the potential to be the best all-around hitter, but potential doesn’t win ball games. At some point, you would like to think he’s going to break out and have a monster season, if not then I think A-Rod should bat third and probably Matsui 4th.

I’ve been watching baseball since 1973. And, since 1973 I’ve always heard that your best all-around hitter should bat third.
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Which is odd that Rodriguez is batting 4th and has been for quite some time…

He has the potential to be our best all around hitter. But he’ll start the season hitting 6th or lower because he has to prove himself.

I’ve been watching baseball since 1973. And, since 1973 I’ve always heard that your best all-around hitter should bat third.

Is Robinson Cano the Yankees best all-around hitter?

Why the hell would you want a career .240 hitter batting third who is coming off his worst season as pro? Swisher is a good 6/7 hitter. Anything more than that and you are asking for trouble.
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Cano career OBP: .335
Swisher Career OBP: .354 (career high of .381 two years ago)

I want my 3-hitter to get on base. Swisher does that better than Cano. And, as I said, Cano’s slumps would be worse than Swisher’s since Cano never walks.

That said, I don’t want either of these guys hitting #3. I would like a combination of Cano’s hitting and Swisher’s walking abilities (like, say, a Mark Texeira.)

Obviously he needs to improve his plate discpline, but I still think batting in front of crappy hitters means he gets even less good pitches to hit.
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Then those pitches he should learn to take. If pitchers are giving him lousy pitches to hit and he’s swinging at them, then that’s on Cano.

It can be reasoned that he’s already getting pitches to hit, because he’s swinging at everything. I do not see him changing his approach because he’s batting higher in the order, nor do I see pitchers grooving pitches to him because Rodriguez is on deck “protecting” him.

What protection doesn’t take into account is that getting a walk ensures that you get on base, while putting the ball in play doesn’t.

Why the hell would you want a career .240 hitter batting third who is coming off his worst season as pro? Swisher is a good 6/7 hitter. Anything more than that and you are asking for trouble.

As far as the Cano thing..if guys get on base in front of Cano he is going to get pitches to hit because teams aren’t going to want to take the chance of putting him on base in front of A-Rod. Obviously he needs to improve his plate discpline, but I still think batting in front of crappy hitters means he gets even less good pitches to hit. Even if its just one extra good pitch to hit in each at-bat it could make a difference.

Honestly, the Yanks don’t have a 3 hitter on this team without Abreu…Jeter, A-Rod , and Cano are the only options right now and if you move A-Rod then you don’t have a cleanup hitter. Relying on Matsui to play a full season would be shortsighted and foolish.

I would probably prefer Swisher at 3, just because of his consistency getting on base. I imagine he would also see a lot of fastballs, likely raising his average some (all the way to .270 maybe!) The problem with Cano hitting 3 is that a ’slump’ for Cano means not getting on base for, like, 2 weeks… literally. If Swisher were in a ’slump,’ he would still get on base at a decent clip and not totally kill the top of our order (same with Matsui, although he certainly doesn’t walk as much.) Until Cano can prove he can be consistent and take some walks, I don’t want him hitting 3.