Links to check out as we await Cliff Lee's Mariners debut…
- BoSox manager Terry Francona says that the upcoming player move to make room on the roster for Daisuke Matsuzaka will almost certainly involve a pitcher, tweets Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
- If you play fantasy baseball, be sure to follow our @closernews feed on Twitter. We've got instant news on all closer situations, enabling you to conquer the save category.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Ryan Howard extension negotiations, speaking to Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and Howard's agent, Casey Close.
- In an MLB.com mailbag, T.R. Sullivan suggests that Frank Francisco could be a prime trade candidate in July, particularly if the Rangers are slipping from playoff contention.
- Luis Mendoza cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Omaha, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Mendoza was designated for assignment by the Royals last week.
- GM Jim Hendry says prospect Starlin Castro will join the Cubs at some point this season, but he won't say how soon, according to ESPNChicago. A source told Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago earlier in the week that Castro's promotion could be right around the corner.
- ESPN.com's Rob Neyer doesn't think the White Sox have any need for Jermaine Dye. We heard earlier today that Dye believes he'd be a fit for the South Siders.
- Talking to Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse, Brewers outfielder Jody Gerut explained why the Padres should retain Adrian Gonzalez.
- Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez answered questions from Denver Post readers, explaining that "it's a really bad feeling when you get traded" and he'd like to sign a contract "for a few years." Gonzalez is not arbitration-eligible until after the 2011 season, and he's represented by Scott Boras.
- The Yankees are not typically inclined to sign young players to long-term deals. It makes sense to maintain flexibility, as they did going year-to-year with Chien-Ming Wang. On the other hand, Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that Robinson Cano's extension has worked out quite well. Will the Yankees exercise his $14MM club option for 2012, or choose the $2MM buyout?
- Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald believes that the future of the Red Sox catching position points more toward Adalberto Ibarra than Victor Martinez.
Ever get the feeling the GMs and owners are playing a bigger version of crackshack or mansion?
There’s no reason at all to not take that option for Cano as it stands right now. The dude is pure stud with the bat.
The Yanks might be better off voiding the options and signing him to a short term 3-year extension at a slightly reduced rate, but more money overall. Something like 3 years/$37.5MM
He’ll be 29 at the end of next season, think the kid is going to be looking for more than 3 years.
I know I’m in for a long ride, but Im really sick of Adrian Gonzalez already
Why?! Dude is a stud with the bat and glove. The only missing piece to become a complete player is his base running but you don’t expect that from a 1st basemen.
I think he was referring to all the news and constant updates on Gonzalez and his status as a Padre.
I think he means he’s just tired of the talk about Gonzalez.
This team wants him, no this team needs him, this team could use him too. Prospect A, B & C for him, not Prospect A, C, D &E for him- and it’s just April 30th, and he probably wont be moved until July 31st. So yes, it’s getting annoying
Of course the yankees will use their option, they’ve had very high hopes for cano for years, and now he’s just starting to put it together. Having an MVP type season, and possibly a year where he can lead the league in batting like he almost did in 2006. The power is coming the glove has always been there, right now he’s the second best second basemen in baseball.
Could the Sox trade Beltre and a prospect to Minnesota for Ramos, move VMart to 1b and Youk to 3b?
in a word, no. twins aren’t going to eat beltre’s salary. their offense is plenty good without a bopper at thirdbase.
am i the only one who thinks he (cano) is sort of overrated. he can hit .300 which is great, but does it matter if his obp is only like .350
he also plays sub-par defense.
the homeruns are nice though, but overall, i consider him overrated and not worth 15mill+ a year. maybe 10.
He’s never going to have a great OBP; you can say he’s overrated, still the 2nd best 2B in the game. Or 3rd if Zobrist is a 2B, but he’s playing more in RF this year.
if aaron hill is healthy, il take him ahead of cano. on my depth chart, he’s 4th.
oh yeah, and a healthy brian roberts is pretty good as well. come to think of it, he isn’t even the best second baseman in his own division. not even second best. or third for that matter…..
Pedroia is up there also.
which is why i said he(cano) isn’t even third :]
if i were to make a nutshell ranking:
utley
pedroia
zobrist
(healthy) aaron hill
(healthy) brian roberts
cano
amazing how 80% of them are in the AL east.
and if were counting chone figgins as a second baseman…you might be able to sandwich him in their as well. probably not though.
Pedroia’s OPS away from Fenway is .771 for his career. So basically 80 games a season he’s a below average player.
Utley
Zobrist
Cano
Pedroia- a product of Fenway park
Roberts
Hill (lower OBP than Cano, subpar on defense as well)
your completely dodging the fact that hill is still a much better defender than cano. and they both are subpar, so that really says something. and a lower obp of about 10 points is that big of a difference….
if you want to use some other fun saber stats:
roberts WAR last 3 seasons:
4.6
4.7
3.8
Aaron hill 07 and 09 WAR (he only played 55 games in 08)
3.6
3.9
robinson cano WAR last 3 seasons
4.6
.2!!!@!@!@!@
4.7
by that measure, roberts is better than those 3 and its a tossup of hill/cano.
Yes Cano had a HORRIBLE 2008, no one denies that.
So Cano beat Hill in WAR by 1.0 and 0.8 in 2007 and 2009- yet Hill is better than Cano? Yeah ok.
ok so we can agree to disagree on cano/hill. but roberts is clearly superior.
Cano beats Hill by 1.0 and 0.9, yet it’s a toss up.
Roberts WAR in 2007 ties Cano, and Cano beats Roberts in 0.9- yet Roberts is clearly superior? Obviously he crushes Cano in 2008, but that was obviously an outliner.
if an offyear is an outlier for cano, than injuries is an outlier for roberts. so yes, he is superior.
Which year was Roberts injured? 2009? Ok, so do you want to give 1.0 to make up for his injuries? Then their WAR is 07 and 09 are basically the same then. Except now Roberts is 6 years older than Cano, and dealing with more injuries as a 33 year old.
oh yeah, and that whole pedroia is a product of fenway thing:
cano ops away from Home: .774. a whopping .003 better than pedroia
Go double check your numbers, Cano’s away OPS is .840
lol good try. your looking at his home ops. go check your numbers :]
No, where are you looking? Go to Yahoo, type in Cano, click on Split Stats, then click Career, look at the titled AWAY and look to the right.
Cano’s CAREER OPS at Home is .819, Away is .840
i am using ESPN and using his last 3 year away OPS. and its telling me a different story.
im done with this conversation, the cardinal game is about to start :] its just too close to really say who is the best secondbaseman not named utley. lets just call it a 5-way tossup.
Yeah, I don’t know what people are talking about.
Yes, Cano is having a great season at the plate (Where all this “glove is improving” and “glove was already there” stuff is coming from baffles me. He’s having a pretty lackluster season in the field so far) and is an overall very good second baseman. That said, he’s third in his own division behind the overall superior Roberts and Pedroia. Hill’s right behind him, though and Zobrist could be better, but he’s older than Cano and has had only the one good season so far.
Right this minute, a whole month in the season, yes Cano is the best second baseman in the AL East. That said, career-wise, he’s still behind Roberts and Pedroia.
You say Cano is overrated because of his low OBP, then you pick Hill.
Hill’s career OBP is .336, Cano’s is .342 – so which is it?
Roberts is a different type of player, 33, injured, and his UZR has been -0.4, -2.4, -4.0 over the last 3 years- so he’s subpar on defense as well.
aaron hill, his bat is every bit as good as cano. he can also play defense. both are low obp guys. im not arguing that.
pedroia, no question he is superior to cano.
roberts, yeah he is sort of subpar. actually, he is subpar. but he isn’t a -38.5UZR bad ( -7.5UZR/150) that is a pretty big difference.
Cano’s career OPS: .830
Hill’s career OPS: .768
How is that every bit as good as Cano? Hill had 1 season where his HR total got boosted, his HR/FB went from a career 8% to 14.9%
Pedroia is a below average player 81 games a season, he is not superior to Cano
Cano’s career OPS is .830
Hill’s career BEST OPS is .829
“Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald believes that the future of the Red Sox catching position points more toward Adalberto Ibarra than Victor Martinez. ”
Wow, really going out on a limb there, huh?
Cano’s glove is improving. He’s had some issues maturing. He was notorious for late night partying before game days for a while there and people thought that after he got his extension he got complacent. I think he’s now realizing he can make a career of this and be an important Yankee for years to come, so he’s beginning to act like it. Also it seems as though batting 5th really suits him. As for that three year extension idea- I feel like the Yankees are trying to avoid handing out more massive long-term deals and Cano, as beloved as he is, isn’t Jeter or A-Rod. Not saying he won’t be, but he isn’t yet and the Yankees are very conscientious of this.
Ok, well if they only offer him 3 years then they’re going to have to replace him. It’d be ridiculous for a 29 year old with that bat at 2B to sign for only 3 years (if he keeps up his production of course).
There’s no reason to rush Castro, we aren’t going anywhere this year.
What makes you think he isn’t ready?
Maybe because he hasn’t played a game in AAA yet? Just a thought
Oh yeah. Because no player has ever succeeded after skipping AAA. I’m looking for a legitmate reason here.
well… is it really going to hurt him to get more seasoning? atleast until late/mid may when they can call him up and avoid super 2 status? and i’m pretty sure for every player that skips AAA and suceeds..their is probably another player that fizzles out.
Now that’s different. It certaintly wouldn’t hurt him to play a little in AAA. And some say that is actually the plan anyway. I’m just questioning why the immediate reaction to calling up Castro invariably suggests that they are rushing him. I think it doesn’t matter with some players if you bring them up early because they’ll adjust. They have the mental makeup, the instincts, and the ability to not just hold their own but actually continue their development. Other players, like Corey Patterson, could have have stayed in the minors until they’re 30 and it still probably wouldn’t have made much difference.
The fact he has been a good hitter for all of what, 98 PA? And much of that “good” is actually luck. And we are talking about the difference in his “good” to “poor” being like 6 hits. Meanwhile, he still isnt doing what he needs to do – that is, walk.
Castro must have been born with a horseshoe in his rear. He’s had nothing but luck since signing with the Cubs. Between about 250 PA between last year and this year at AA, he has walked somewhere between 7-8%. It was 8.2% last year and it’s at about 7% this year after a poor start in that area. That’s about average and considering his bat and solid to good defense, that’ll play if he can sustain it. More importantly, he continues to progress in that area. I don’t see it as a problem. And as has been noted in the past, anyone observing Castro at the plate will immediately note that he isn’t a Soriano-esque hacker (pre-2010) by any stretch of the imagination.
his BB% may be average for the ML, but it’s well below average for the league (9.3% is avg last year) while he holds a BB/K barley above the league average. That isn’t development.
It’s up from his Daytona numbers, so I consider that progress and development. And he’s a kid who just turned 20 playing against older players. You have to measure his progress and development in relation to his own previous standards, not compared to other players who are 2-3 years older. I think 7-8% is encouraging, especially considering that it’s a significant improvement from A to AA. It’s also an improvement from his first 45-50 PAs to his last 45-50 PAs. If he can continue to improve and keep that 8% walk rate at the major league level, it’ll be more than enough considering his skills in the other areas of his game.
Not really, considering the BB% rate at the lower levels is lower itself.
Plus, you are talking about one walk representing “development” in your argument. One walk doesn’t represent much of anything in reality though.
I was making an estimate on the PAs. I remember seeing him with 2 walks at 40 ABs. Now he has 7 in 90 or so. So he probably started walking a little ealier than my ballpark guess. It doesn’t change much. That’s getting a little nitpicky. And atrributing his increased walk rate to the respective increase in league averages is a bit of stretch to say the least. If that’s all you’ve got on Castro, then I can’t say it’s a whole lot.
“And atrributing his increased walk rate to the respective increase in league averages is a bit of stretch to say the least. If that’s all you’ve got on Castro, then I can’t say it’s a whole lot.”
Humm, his Walk rate stays consistent to the walk rate of the league, and you say that doesnt say a lot? And the fact that the entire argument is based off one walk, also doesnt say a lot? And the only thing that says a lot is, what? You just assuming he is walking more?
I’m not assuming. He IS walking more. Castro isn’t compelled against his will to walk more simply because the league’s walk rate is higher. The credit goes to him, not the league.
“I’m not assuming. He IS walking more”
Noooo… he walked once more. And if that somehow means improved BB rate to you…
And no, if you walk 5% in a league that walks 5% on average then walk 7% in a league that walks 7% on average, you dont necessarily get the credit. But since we are talking about one walk being the center of this “credit” you want to give…
I don’t know if he is or he is not. I just know that there aren’t that many 19/20 year olds in baseball history who have come up this young and succeeded right away. My concern is that Cubs fans like us want to win now and he’s being seen as some sort of savior. That’s a lot of pressure on a young kid.
To be honest, if I had my druthers, I’d keep him down at AA a bit longer. But I do think he could handle it if he were to get called up. He’d probably hit at the bottom of the lineup- or should – for a while. Here’s where I disagree though: I think you can’t make that decision under the assumption that the Cubs won’t contend. You have to make the decision based on 1) whether he is physically and mentally ready for the transition 2) whether calling him up will hurt his development and 3) will he help the club? I’ve already stated that I think he could hold his own physically. I also think he’s got the combination of talent, mental makeup and instincts to continue to make adjustments, so I don’t think his development will be hurt. The biggest question I have is this: will he make the team better? There’s no question, Castro will give them better range and arm at SS. But will he be a better offensive player than the Fontenot/Baker tandem at 2b? And while Theriot is better suited for 2b than SS, Fontenot is a pretty good defensive secondbaseman in his own right. So the upgrade on defense at 2b probably wouldn’t be that significant. The Cubs would be upgrading defensive range/arm at SS and adding a little speed…but there may be a dropoff in offensive production initially. It may just end up being a wash overall. And if that’s the case, there really is no point in bringing him up right now. They may as well wait a bit longer.
Maybe Castro is the piece that puts them over the top. Fontenot did it in 2007, and he isn’t half the player Castro is.
…
how can people use OPS to gauge whether Pedroia is better that Cano? OPS favors power hitters like Cano. Pedroia’s OPS at home are higher because he hits more home runs at home. OPS is a terrible stat to use to compare the two.