Irrational exuberance!! His DAD was pitching to him, and like the other pitchers, all batters were served up easy to hit stuff...i.e. no sliders, no curve balls, no fast balls, no nada but easy breezy.
I've been pushing Cano for several years. Just thought adding the blub about the HRD Title would be a little fun.
Robbie's still one of the premier 2B in all of baseball. And even in a "down" year, he's still looking at finishing with numbers around .300/30/110 while playing a Gold Glove 2B...
I was wrong. Cano is the best 2b in the game and probably has been for some time. I think I discounted his talent somewhat just because he was overshadowed (in my mind anyway) because he was surrounded by such legends. I also discounted his value alot becuase of his defense (which still could use some work), but even with the errors, his hitting more than makes up for it. His power has consistently improved too.
Cano is 9th in fielding %, 2nd in Range Factor and 16th in Zone Rating in all of baseball....I'm sure there are some more advanced stats that I'm missing, but those numbers tell me that he's better than average defensively. Not great, but not a liability either.
<< <i>Cano is 9th in fielding %, 2nd in Range Factor and 16th in Zone Rating in all of baseball....I'm sure there are some more advanced stats that I'm missing, but those numbers tell me that he's better than average defensively. Not great, but not a liability either. >>
Cano may not be a liability, but he also has to make improvements to even become an average defensive 2B. 2 Defensive Runs Saved (compared to 7 last season, or 22 in 2007), -0.1 dWAR, -4 Total Zone, -4.7 UZR, -5.8 UZR/150. Of the 339 balls hit in his zone, he made plays on 272 of them. 2007 was the only year where he was above average. He may have won the meaningless Gold Glove at 2b last season, but his trophy should read Mark Ellis on it's nameplate.
as usual, it seems the advanced stats tell a different story. I'll still maintain that he is OK defensively based on the eyeball test..... all I know is he made a nice diving play last night to rob the Sox of a potential huge inning.
I'm not up on the latest defensive metrics - so when they count balls "in his zone", is that zone taken as a certain width of the infield around where the 2B usually plays, or a certain width around the fielder where he is standing when the ball is hit? I ask because Jayson Stark has an interesting story today on the "Information Age" in baseball. I'd be curious to see how much the Yankees pay attention that kind of stuff (I suspect very little, at least compared to the "heavy info" teams), and if they don't, how many more balls Cano would reach "in his zone" if he were positioned properly.
<< <i>as usual, it seems the advanced stats tell a different story. I'll still maintain that he is OK defensively based on the eyeball test..... all I know is he made a nice diving play last night to rob the Sox of a potential huge inning.
I'm not up on the latest defensive metrics - so when they count balls "in his zone", is that zone taken as a certain width of the infield around where the 2B usually plays, or a certain width around the fielder where he is standing when the ball is hit? I ask because Jayson Stark has an interesting story today on the "Information Age" in baseball. I'd be curious to see how much the Yankees pay attention that kind of stuff (I suspect very little, at least compared to the "heavy info" teams), and if they don't, how many more balls Cano would reach "in his zone" if he were positioned properly. >>
It's an aggregate of various factors in the defensive zone ratings...range factor, total zone, UZR etc of which the average 2B is for that particular year (of those 2b with enough GP that qualify). As for the Yankees, they have a history of placating egos (keeping Jeter as SS over the then superior A-rod, starting Granderson in CF over the superior B. Gardner, burying Jesus Montero in AAA in order to keep Posada's .239/.317/.398 on the active roster) so I suspect they pay very little attention to them, and even if they did, Cano hits well enough that they would look past his defensive shortcomings anyway. Besides, they aren't going to move him to DH to make room for Ramiro Pena or move Jeter over to 2b to make room for Eddie Nunez.
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<< <i>Cano is a beast. Easily one of the top 3 players in the game. >>
Let's not get crazy here. He's no where near one of the top 3 players in the game. He's arguably only the third best player on his own team. >>
I have to agree with you, I find it funny how everyone is on the Cano "Bandwagon" already after a slow pitch hitting display.
Cano won home run thingy...YAWN
Robbie's still one of the premier 2B in all of baseball. And even in a "down" year, he's still looking at finishing with numbers around .300/30/110 while playing a Gold Glove 2B...
I'm sure the detractors will come up with some lame reason that he's not...
Always buying Bobby Cox inserts. PM me.
<< <i>Cano is 9th in fielding %, 2nd in Range Factor and 16th in Zone Rating in all of baseball....I'm sure there are some more advanced stats that I'm missing, but those numbers tell me that he's better than average defensively. Not great, but not a liability either. >>
Cano may not be a liability, but he also has to make improvements to even become an average defensive 2B. 2 Defensive Runs Saved (compared to 7 last season, or 22 in 2007), -0.1 dWAR, -4 Total Zone, -4.7 UZR, -5.8 UZR/150. Of the 339 balls hit in his zone, he made plays on 272 of them. 2007 was the only year where he was above average. He may have won the meaningless Gold Glove at 2b last season, but his trophy should read Mark Ellis on it's nameplate.
I'm not up on the latest defensive metrics - so when they count balls "in his zone", is that zone taken as a certain width of the infield around where the 2B usually plays, or a certain width around the fielder where he is standing when the ball is hit? I ask because Jayson Stark has an interesting story today on the "Information Age" in baseball. I'd be curious to see how much the Yankees pay attention that kind of stuff (I suspect very little, at least compared to the "heavy info" teams), and if they don't, how many more balls Cano would reach "in his zone" if he were positioned properly.
<< <i>as usual, it seems the advanced stats tell a different story. I'll still maintain that he is OK defensively based on the eyeball test..... all I know is he made a nice diving play last night to rob the Sox of a potential huge inning.
I'm not up on the latest defensive metrics - so when they count balls "in his zone", is that zone taken as a certain width of the infield around where the 2B usually plays, or a certain width around the fielder where he is standing when the ball is hit? I ask because Jayson Stark has an interesting story today on the "Information Age" in baseball. I'd be curious to see how much the Yankees pay attention that kind of stuff (I suspect very little, at least compared to the "heavy info" teams), and if they don't, how many more balls Cano would reach "in his zone" if he were positioned properly. >>
It's an aggregate of various factors in the defensive zone ratings...range factor, total zone, UZR etc of which the average 2B is for that particular year (of those 2b with enough GP that qualify). As for the Yankees, they have a history of placating egos (keeping Jeter as SS over the then superior A-rod, starting Granderson in CF over the superior B. Gardner, burying Jesus Montero in AAA in order to keep Posada's .239/.317/.398 on the active roster) so I suspect they pay very little attention to them, and even if they did, Cano hits well enough that they would look past his defensive shortcomings anyway. Besides, they aren't going to move him to DH to make room for Ramiro Pena or move Jeter over to 2b to make room for Eddie Nunez.