Interesting thought about Soriano

[uucrook3d]

has he ever played CF? why would you put him there? the yankees have a terrible 2B right now - maybe the worst in all of baseball.

Cano is terrible? Are you frickin kidding me? Cano has been outstanding this season, especially as a 22 yr old rookie. The future looks great at 2B for the Yankees and Cano in all likelihood not going anywhere. Cano has to be in the top half of MLB 2B already. To call it the worst in baseball is an outrage.

Sorry but that statement is a farce and just completely pissed me off and tells me you probably didn't even know Cano was playing.


On Soriano, he strikes out too much still for the Yanks, especially with Michael who like OBP having a say in Yankee matters now.

He has the athleticism to play CF for sure, but who knows how he'd actually play.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think the Yanks will sign him to play CF and they definately won't sign him as a 2B. As a CF though, you never know what the Yanks could do.

cano is terrible defensively. if you cant see that, then you are biased. he can handle the bat though

He's definately not terrible. He's easily better than Soriano for one. I find it funny that you claim to know how he is as a defensive 2B when I highly doubt you've watched him much and definately not nearly to the extent I have. As a 22 yr old, he's still got plenty of time to get better. 2B defense is hardly a problem for the Yankees.

and i find it funny that you claim to know how much i have watched cano... i have seen him in a dozen or so games which i know is not as many as you but in the majority of them he has made some sort of error, i have yet to see him make an exceptional play. i am not saying that soriano was better definsively. i think any rookie that started at 2b for the yanks would struggle definsively. however, i do think that all defense is a problem for the yanks, including 2b

You have to admit that calling Cano terrible defensively after 12 games is a pretty big leap. It's hardly enough time to make a good judgement. He's young and we can look for him to improve all around as he continues to adjust to playing with Jeter, and in the Major Leagues.

i know he will improve and i am impressed that the yanks actually have a decent prospect to call up. just from what i have seen(12 games or so in full, plus highlights of every game) he seems to stuggle defensively. i will say that instead of calling him terrible.

[The Roto Authority]

My apologies - Cano slipped my mind when I said the Yankees had the worst 2B in baseball. That was a reference to the Womack era. Cano was a pretty weak hitter in Columbus last year (.259/.316/.403). His .311 OBP is about right where one would expect it, in fact, it will probably get worse. Just hope Torre is not dumb enough to let him lead off again.

As far as his defense: no person can evaluate his defensive prowess with the naked eye, whether you watched 2 Yankees games this year or 50. Baseball Prospectus projects his major league defense to be 6 runs below average this year based on his minor league track record. Their metrics are far more advanced than anything we can come up with - check it out

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... cleid=2620

for details. Cano looks like a replacement level player to me based on all of this.

[blankman]

Ok, based on that data sure, but that's all done before the season if I'm not mistaken. In that sense, Cano has performed over their expectations. It was way too early to say he won't be that good before this season, and he's proven doubters wrong thus far and I expect him to continue to play well and to improve upon what he's done already.

I personally don't give a darn what BP said about him as a prospect before he was called up. Just look at him now and make a judgement.

[bd3521]

This year Cano's VORP (so far) is right next to Mr. Beltran's

[The Roto Authority]

why do you say Cano outperformed their expectations? His OBP and defense are slightly better than projected, but those are intended to be conservative estimates and our sample size is tiny.

Continue to play well? What does Cano do particularly well? Get on base, hit for power, play defense? None of the above, and no record to expect him to do those things well. If the Yankees picked up Jiminez off the waiver wire he would probably have outplayed Cano.

If you think the best way to evaluate a young player is to disregard his minor league record and look at his 183 major league at-bats only, well, I disagree. David Newhan looked like a star for a few months there.

Not sure why Yankees fans are so satisfied with mediocrity. Maybe the team's farm system is so barren that if a player can be called up and not be awful it is considered a victory.

[bd3521]

Damn that was some strong hatred for your 11th post.

At bats by second baseman per homerun

Soriano, Alfonso 2B TEX 15
Kent, Jeff 2B LA 19
Hall, Bill E. SS MIL 19
Utley, Chase 2B PHI 20
Roberts, Brian 2B BAL 21
Cantu, Jorge L. 2B TB 23
Biggio, Craig CF HOU 28
Cano, Robinson 3B NYY 31
Belliard, Ron 2B CLE 31
Spivey, Junior 2B WAS 34
Boone, Bret 2B SEA 38
Giles, Marcus 2B ATL 38
Castillo, Jose 2B PIT 39
Bellhorn, Mark 2B BOS 40
Gotay, Ruben 2B KC 40
Perez, Neifi SS CHC 41
Infante, Omar 2B DET 42
Uribe, Juan 2B CHW 43
Hudson, Orlando 2B TOR 45
Blum, Geoff 2B SD 46
Cuddyer, Michael 3B MIN 46
Counsell, Craig SS ARI 48
Iguchi, Tadahito 2B CHW 50
Scutaro, Marco 2B OAK 54
Polanco, Placido 2B DET 58
Durham, Ray 2B SF 59
Figgins, Chone CF ANA 60
Matsui, Kaz SS NYM 61
Grudzielanek, Mark 2B STL 70
Castillo, Luis 2B FLA 102
Reyes, Jose B. 2B NYM 111
Womack, Tony 2B NYY hah

So far this season I have been satisfied with his power and there's no reason he cant be top 5 next year for 2b's in HR's (considering you said he has no power).

[The Roto Authority]

haha...yeah, if I came off as harsh I'm sorry. just felt strongly about it I guess. I'm sure there's some Yankee dislike lurking beneath the surface too...no hatred intended, in any case.

[Pokey]

Blankman is having a cano lovefest.

It's been a long time since the Yanks have brought up and kept a prospect this promising and I absolutely love what i've seen from him.

I know what you mean there. I can't WAIT to see Hanley get up and do his thing. Pedroia too for that matter.

Don't know about Pedroia but where's Hanley going to play? 3b? 2b? Will they move Renteria?

Rumors are and Renteria has been quoted to saying he'd make a move to 3B because he'd do anything to help out a guy with as much potential as Hanley, and wouldn't wanna hold him back. I'm pretty sure Pedroia is 2B.

I highly doubt Rent or Ramerez will be moved. Neither really produces enough yet to be a corner infielder.

Then again, Bill Mueller is the sox third baseman so who knows.

IMO major league teams don't care nearly as much about where their production comes from as fantasy owners do. But anyways- this won't even be an issue until mid-2006 or even the beginning of 2007. Hanley just hasn't proven that he's ready for a major league promotion anytime soon.

[acsguitar]

has he ever played CF? why would you put him there? the yankees have a terrible 2B right now - maybe the worst in all of baseball.

Wow thats one of the dumbest statements I've ever heard.....Cano is pretty darn good especially for a rookie.....

Nice call..welcome to the cafe rookie

[The Roto Authority]

i already corrected that, way to keep up. despite my early error:

CANO IS NOT PRETTY DARN GOOD

WHAT ASPECT OF CANO IS PRETTY DARN GOOD

please, enlighten me with some stats. one poster showed me his power wasn't terrible, and he was right. still, he doesn't get on base and is an average fielder. the yankees were better off with cairo easily. there are people on the waiver wire better than this.