Is it time to give up on Cano yet?

Question

Is it time to give up on Cano yet?

Answer 1

i don't what this guy is thinking above me posting talking about minor league performaces by Cano that are inaccurate, when Cano has been in the big leagues for over 2 seasons and has hit above .300 in each of them.

Keep Cano. He will bust out of his slump soon enough. He is a .350 career hitter in the 2nd half. He is way too good not to get hot and be productive.

Answer 2

cano has always been a good hitter in the second have of the season but if u need to win now i say u drop him and pick up someone else maybe pedroia

Answer 3

If you drop Cano, you risk playing "musical chairs" at 2B for the rest of the season.  However, there are some solid 2B on waivers.  The following are owned in less than 50% of  Sportsline leagues:

Alexei Ramirez-- There's a reason why the call him the "Cuban Missle" and baseball analyst Steve Stone has spoken highly of him since spring training.  Could end up being the long-term solution you're hoping for, but he is a raw talent, with immense potential, but lacks experience and refinement.  

Maicer Izturis-- This guy has been on fire and is in the middle of a 12 game hitting streak.  He is a little dude so don't expect homeruns from this guy, but he's on pace to steal 20 bases if he continues to start for the Angels.  However, he would only be a short-term solution and then you would have to go and find yourself another 2B.

Alexi Casilla-- This guy is a speed burner and a top infield prospect for the Twins who's finally getting a chance to play for the big league team.  He was projected to steal 25 SBs at the beginning of the year and it might still happen, but he's only on pace to steal 7 at this moment.  I believe that the more confidence Ron Gardenhire has in him, the more of a green light he'll give him to steal more bases.  He's always struggled to hit for .250 in AA or higher, but more times than not, he posts a high on-base%.  He has an OPS of .853 thus far for the Twins.  

Robinson Cano is still owned in 98% of Sportsline leagues and is active in 82% of those leagues so many people still hold hope for him.  In the minors, he's always been able to post a decent batting average, but has always struggled to post a respectable on-base% and SLUG.  The K:BB isn't too alarming in the minors, but since he's been a Yankee regular, pitchers usually have their way with him (despite the solid numbers he posts from 2B) and this year he is almost at a 1:2 disadvantage in that department--HOWEVER, he really isn't striking out a lot so that might prove that his contact rate is off than in years past.  

Cano can either be a 2B who is in a season long slump or it could be that he didn't have a lot of good skills to begin with (bad K:BB ratio in the majors, difficulty in reaching high on-base and SLUG in the minors) and his three year run as a good hitting 2B is finally running out.  It's your call, but if I were you (which you're not  :)  I would give Cano one or two more weeks and if he's still struggling, I would just play musical chairs the rest of the season and take my chances with Ramirez (if he's still available and producing) and see what happens.  When Steve Stone predicts something, he is usually dead on.  

Felipe

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EDIT: Jim, please read--

Cano was in the minor leagues since 2001 and his best season, at least from a percentage stand point was in 2004 at AA Trenton and in 2005 when he was at AAA Columbus and called up to the Yankees after 24 games.  Every stop before hand, he has struggled to post an on-base % of over .350.  You can look it up yourself if you don't believe me.  

As far as minor league numbers go, I used to think the same way and thought they were useless, but then almost all the big fantasy baseball websites, from RotoWire, to ESPN, their experts use minor league numbers to figure out which players are "real" and which ones are "flukes."  The main numbers that can translate into major league success are K:BB, on-base%, and OPS.  If you don't believe me, perhaps you can benefit from a long talk with A's GM Billy Beane.  

Furthermore, a guy who hits .300 no longer is noteworthy in fantasy sports.  It's important because it is still used in roto leagues, but achieving a .300 BA is so dependent on many other variables outside an individual hitter, that many fantasy experts just ignore it and look at independent variables that brings up accountability on an individual hitter.  Again, those stats are mostly, K:BB, on-base%, and OPS.  The reason we focus on the three stats mentioned is because we're trying to seperate the very good from the very average MLB baseball player to help you become a successful fantasy leaguer.  That and a good combination of those three stats usually result in a good batting average--that precious, precious batting average.

And you want to do that whole 1st half, 2nd half schtick (also being done away with by many fantasy baseball experts, from RotoWire to ESPN).  How do you explain Cano hitting .207 with a horrible .513 OPS for the month of August of 2005? In June of 2006, his on-base% was at .432, while in Post All-Star of that year, it was "only" at .380.  Not much of a difference in on-base%, huh?  Perhaps he was having an overall good year that season.  In 2007, he did have a better Post-All-Star than Pre, BUT ONLY BECAUSE HE CUT BACK ON THE STRIKEOUTS.  If he would've done that in the 1st half of last season, we would be talking about another overall good season from Cano.  

In 2008, Cano isn't striking out a lot, but he's not walking a lot either so he is highly depending on getting on-base by trying to hit everything he sees.  When you swing a bat, you can either swing and miss, swing and hit the ball directly at a glove, or you can get lucky and get a hit.  Since Cano's contact rate isn't high (which results in a poor batting average) he is finding it difficult to get out of this slump of his and since this guy doesn't know how to take a walk, then he's never going to get anything good to hit.  Until he walks more and cuts back on his K rate, then he's just an ordinary 2B right now.  I don't think the asker has all season to find out if Cano will turn things around or not.

Answer 4

No. 2nd Base is such a shallow position that there isn't a point in dropping Cano quite yet.