Tagged: Cano
Don’t Ya Know?
Who would have thought that at any point in the 2010 season, Robinson Cano would have as many home runs as Ryan Howard and Matt Holliday combined, as many steals as Hanley Ramirez, a higher on base percentage than Joe Mauer, a higher slugging percentage than Albert Pujols and the best batting average in the majors?
I mean, I thought he’d be pretty good this year, but this is ridiculous.
The sweet swinging second baseman has always been known for having outstanding potential but never quite reaching it. While the production from Cano has been solid throughout his major league career, he’s always found himself considered less valuable at second base than popular players like Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, or even Aaron Hill last season. Cano was always a good hitter and fielder who was just not quite good enough to be considered top tier.
Now, Robby Cano is 27, often considered the prime age for a major league baseball player, and the numbers only back up that well-known theory. Robinson Cano is leading the league in average and OPS+, while putting up other notable numbers like 34 hits, 8 HR and an OPS over 1.000. To add to that, Cano’s been stellar with the glove, committing only one error and showing great range and a great arm to go with that efficiency.
Robby has suddenly entered contention for the MVP award early on, as well as being the favorite to start at 2nd in the 2010 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, California. While it may be a bit early to make statements like that, it would most definitely not be a stretch to think Cano could at least stay very productive for the remainder of the year. Cano typically does not hit very well in April, but he tore it up this month. May has been the most difficult month in Cano’s 5-year major league career, as Cano only hits .269 in the second month of the baseball season with a .296 OBP along with that. Look to see if Cano will hit well this second month; if he cools off significantly, do not be too worried as Cano hits well over .300 in June, July, August and September. If he stays relatively productive, this could be Cano’s year. If he stays as hot as he did in April, Cano is almost certainly the favorite to win AL MVP.
Here are some notable performances that Cano has had in 2010, in order of earliest to latest.
- April 6, Yankees at Red Sox – Cano goes 2 for 3 with a home run, 2 RBI and a walk, helping the Yankees to their first win of the year against arch-rival Boston.
- April 10, Yankees at Rays – In a 10-0 rout of Tampa Bay, Cano collects 2 hits in 5 at bats with a home run and 3 runs driven in.
- April 15, Angels at Yankees – Yankees win a 3-game series against Anaheim as Cano hits 2 home runs in 4 at bats and drives in 3.
- April 24, Yankees at Angels – Yanks win 7-1 as Robinson Cano goes 4-for-5, scores 3 runs and drives one man in.
- April 29, Yankees at Orioles – Cano leads the Yankees to a 4-0 victory with a 3-for-4, 2 home run performance as well as a very nice back-hand, off balance throw up the middle defensive play.
Cano, to go with these strong performances, has been consistent in almost every game. With offense like this coming at a premium position like 2nd base, Robby Cano has definitely been highly valuable to the Yankees.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid
THE BOYS OF SUMMER HAVE RETURNED.
We lost, but it’s okay.
Look, are we glad the season’s back or not?
I’m a big Yankee fan, so of course I’m upset we blew a lead on Opening Night against our biggest rival, the Red Sox. But it’s all good, it’s all good. We lost a handful of games at the beginning of 2009(against the Orioles, moreover) and we kind of won the World Series then. You see that? There’s always a bright side of things.
I’m too optimistic to wallow in the despair of a loss. I can’t stand pessimism. I really can’t.
Anyway, allow me to break down what happened in that game.
What We Did Right
We hit like the Yankees should. We hit like our mommas told us we should. First of all, a few guys were swinging away early in the count early on against Beckett, which I didn’t like much, but in the 2nd inning we got Beckett to throw a lot more pitches by getting four consecutive hits. Oh, and by the way, the first two of those four hits were back-to-back jacks from Jorge Posada (pesky pole line drive) and Curtis Granderson (just a good ol’ fashioned atom bomb). Posada had 3 hits and 2 RBI. Robbie Cano had two hits, including a double. Jeter had two knocks and drove in a run, and heck, Nick Johnson even walked twice. Our pitching didn’t let Ellsbury get on base (he was 0-for-5) We worked Beckett with hits and deep counts until he was taken out in the middle of the 5th inning. That’s when things got ugly.
What We Did Wrong
The bullpen surrendered 2 walks, 6 hits and 3 earned runs, 2 of those coming from Chan Ho Park, who did not impress in his first outing with the Yanks. Place your bets on when he’s getting cut(sarcasm).
Sabathia’s start was not much better, as although he had some bright spots, he gave up 5 runs in 5.1 innings. We let Youkilis beat us (3 hits and 2 RBI). We let Pedroia beat us (2 hits and 3 RBI). And how do you give up 2 hits, a ribbie and a walk to the number nine hitter (Marco Scutaro)? Our arms just didn’t go out there and give us the good stuff, and that’s why we sucked.
Next Game
Flamethrowing AJ Burnett gets the start for the Yankees against Jesus–I mean, Jon Lester. Why do I risk blasphemy by calling Lester Jesus? Well, a lot of baseball minds(Tom Verducci being one of them) have Lester winning the Cy Young award this year. He has electric stuff, he came back from cancer, won the clinching World Series game, pitched a no-hitter, takes no crap from nobody and by the way, he’s a lefty. It seems like the only thing he’s missing is the Cy Young at this point.
Do I think he’ll win the Cy Young? No, I don’t. I think Jake Peavy will win it and I have a good argument for that. But is it far-fetched to predict Lester to take home the trophy? It most definitely isn’t. He’s the real deal.
As far as Burnett goes, he’s an enigma, as are 2 of the other Yankee starters (Vasquez and Hughes could do a number of things). We know he has great stuff. We know he’s performed in tough situations in the past. He had a solid postseason. He has freakin’ awesome tattoos, and he was in a rock band. Okay, maybe the last part is a little irrelevant, but still, you see what I’m getting at. It’ll be interesting to see how Burnett starts off his ’10 season against one of the premier pitchers in the MLB.
And it’ll also be interesting to see how Granderson fares against the lefty starter Lester. We know he bites against southpaw hurlers.
You sure know who I’m rooting for.
Around the MLB
Right now, life is good. In fact, if life was any sweeter, I’d have cavities in all my teeth. It’s a bright day outside, I’ve got MLB Network on the big ol TV with round-the-league coverage, and I don’t have school for the entire week. Oh, and pomegranate lemonade. Good stuff.
As for the MLB, we’ve got Barack Hussein Obama(he’s kind of the President) throwing the first pitch in Washington DC in a Nats-Phillies game where Doc Halladay is making his first Phillies start. The Nats lead 1-0. The Mets are leading 2-0, but they’ll blow that in a couple innings. I’ve already called it, so it’s going to happen. Aaron Harang was looking fantastic against St. Louis, striking out two batters, and then Pujols came up. 2-2 count! Here’s the pitch! Down the middle! There it–goes? Yeah, that’s the reigning NL MVP, boys. If you’re not used to it, get with the program.
And these MLB 2k10 commercials are the shizznat. The game sucks(The Show for the win) but they’ve definitely got it going on with the commercials. Nelson Cruz talking about making Andrew Bailey cry with his boomstick. Kendry Morales and Felix Hernandez trash talking in Spanish. There are few things better than trash talk, especially when it’s from Latino people.
Around the World
March Madness. National Championship Game. The incredible story of Butler University against the top-tier long time power and definite favorite Duke University. 9:00 PM EST tonight. I don’t care if you don’t like basketball. Watch it.
Oh, and Donovan McNabb has been traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Washington Redskins in an absolute horrible trade for the Eagles. I mean, come on, Philly. How do you trade one of the better QBs in the league to a divisional rival for two low round draft picks? Congrats to Washington for such a steal. Look out for how the draft is impacted by this. Jimmy Clausen was a favorite to go no. 4 to the Redskins, but now that they have a quarterback, they’re a franchise left tackle away from being a serious playoff contender. They can draft Bryan Bulaga there and have their blindside, or they can get Russell Okung if the Lions foolishly pass on him. And Jimmy Clausen could go to the Browns at no. 5, the Bills at no. 9, or heck, everybody else has a quarterback, he could go to the Cardinals late in the first round. Interesting stuff.
But the Eagles are idiots today.
What You Need to Look At
John Sterling is an odd man.
Song of the Day
Oh yes, it’s back. The Song of the Day is All The Right Moves by OneRepublic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI87yRroj4I
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Vampire from New York
You’re Messing With Me, Aren’t You?
11 walk off wins. 11. Come on now guys, this is silly. How clutch can this team get? How many big hits can this team get? How many big plays can this team make? Today, in a Wednesday matinee, the third game of a set against Canada’s best, Robinson Cano had his turun in the walk off parade. If you want a metaphor, Robby had his shot to breakdance in the middle of the walk off party circle. And he didn’t let us down.
We’re so used to Robinson Cano not coming through in big situations or grounding into double plays that our nails were pretty short there in the 11th with runners on first and second and one Bomber retired. But dang it, these are the 2009 Yankees. We don’t get let down. That’s not our thing. That ain’t how we do, if you will. Cano sent a pitch deep into right center field, banging it off the wall and winning it for the Bronx in a day where it seemed like another long, extra inning affair would be inevitable. His walk off single was the big hit that complimented the runs we scored earlier. We would not be let down today. No, sir.
And who won today? Well, it would be none other than right hander Chad Gaudin, who hurled two strong innings in his first appearance in Yankee pinstripes. How storybook is that? Sure, it ain’t Mannywood, but it’s a nice story anyways.
Tomorrow I’m going to show you guys all of my nicknames for a whole bunch of New York Yankees and I’m going to explain them. That’s going to be a heck of a post, so don’t you miss it.
Song of the Day is The Killers – Read My Mind. It’s a very nice song, anybody who’s familiar with the Killers knows they’re not heavy in any sense. LISTEN.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
This is Fuuun…
For the first time in my brief time as a Yankee fan, I can peacefully say without objection: Red Sox suck, Red Sox suck.
Mwahahahahaha.
Since the All-Star break, the Yankees have been about as close to unbeatable as humanly possible, as we’ve gone from a few games out of first place to tied for the best record in the game. We are, without a doubt, the best team in baseball, and I think that that’s pretty clear. We’re tied… for the best record in the game… and we play in the AL East, where we have a comfortable 3.5 lead. I feel like a Red Sox fan!
And hey, you others might think that us Yankee fans are being too spoiled and stuck up about our success. But the people who say that are probably on non-first place teams, and therefore are envious of our sexiness, basically.
Because, we’re really, really, sexy.
I was about to post up a suggestive photo(not of myself, of a hot Yankee girl, put down the barfbag… unless you’re into me, in which case, *wink*) but I thought better of it. Google Images, men. That’s all I’m saying. 😛
Anyway, there was a massive load of trades yesterday, and the Yankees made one, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t a big move, which doesn’t surprise me, but apparently it surprises other Yankee fans. We traded for minor league righty starting pitcher Jason Hirsh. Now, let me give you a little information on Hirsh in case you wanted to know.
Jason Hirsh is, first of all, still somewhat young. He’s 27 years of age, born in Santa Monica, California, and of the Jewish faith. He has a decent amount of MLB experience, as a starter in 9 games in his rookie season with the Astros in 2006. In 2007, he was a member of the NL champion Colorado Rockies, starting in 19 games with them. His numbers were not impressive; 5-7, 4.81 ERA, 112 innings pitched, but considering he had a 6.04 earned run average in ’06, he really didn’t do a bad job in Denver. Last year he pitched 8.2 innings, with a 55 ERA+(not good). This year, pitching solely in AAA Colorado Springs, he’s been very ineffective, with a 6-7 record and a 6.66 (ZOMG POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL) ERA. He’s a former AA all star, a guy who, according to this scouting report, has or at least had really good stuff. But according to my video game, his stuff ain’t that impressive. Here’s Wikipedia’s scouting report on him, notably a little dated:
“Hirsh has good leverage and pitches down to hitters. Hirsh had one of the most refined repertoires in Triple-A in 2006. He has a plus 2-seam fastball that has sink and good movement at 91-94 mph, while Hirsh’s plus hard-breaking slider is consistent and has bite at 80-86 mph (managers rated it the best breaking ball in the Texas League). Hirsh continues to refine his moderate changeup, which has fair deception and movement in the low-80s. He also throws a 4-seam fastball in the 94-96 mph range, and touches 97-98. [10][11] He’s not afraid to pitch inside, and throws strikes to both sides of the plate.”
Hirsh is also big and pretty athletic, he’s 6’8″ and 250 pounds, no lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. He might not pitch at all this yet, this move was simply to get a little depth at the starting pitcher position and, frankly, they made a pretty nice move for what they were looking for.
Today’s Song of the Day is the most gangsta song ever, and I picked it partially because I feel like a gangsta, and partially because the Red Sox need to “run n!gga run n!gga, duck n!gga, duck n!gga, run motherf–ker run”. I’m really enjoying first place. The Song of the Day today is Vato by Snoop Dogg.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Win, Loss, Win.
That’s our record since my last post, which still has yet to have a comment on it(bittermaaaan). Yes, our long win streak ended, but I’m not upset about that, since we won today and the Red Sox lost and so we’re just where we were a couple days ago…
Robinson Cano, strangely enough, actually came through with the bases loaded and two outs, hitting a bases clearing double, as pictured above. Sergio Mitre(also goes by SERGE, or Double Tre, or Pookieee) went 5 innings, gave up 9 hits and four runs, so nothing fantastic, but nothing awful either. That’s exactly what we needed out of him; starts that aren’t great, but keep us in the game and in the lead. I don’t know why some Yankee fans insist that we can’t have him in there.
Anyways, tomorrow I’m going to have my rare SUPER AWESOME AMAZING BLOG POST in which I will be breaking down the New York Yankees’ 7 Best Prospects (7 because 5 is too short and 10 is too long). Tonight and part of tomorrow morning/afternoon I’ll take a gander at(yes, I said it) the Yanks’ farm system and I’ll give you their picture, their statistics and their scouting report. It’ll be really good for you Yankee fans who want to check out the farm but are unable to do so because of a busy schedule, or maybe you just have friends. Pff. Friends. How lame. Why can’t you just be like me and be a lonely, sad fellow?
By the way, do you like my use of effects on the font today? Heheh. Fancy.
Today is the first day I didn’t have to think about what my Song of the Day should be. Today, it’s easy.
The Song of the Day is Follow You Down by Blindside.
Cool, huh?
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
A Good Ol’ Fashioned Whoopin’.
As Bob Dylan so eloquently put it in Like A Rolling Stone:
“How does it feel?”
It was a terrific game, wasn’t it?
Cano came through with the bases fulla Yankees and broke out of his RISP slump, CC Sabathia dominated the Twins, and everything else was perfect, too. I have no regrets about this 10-2 ballgame.
Tonight’s ballgame looks like it’ll be equally fun, considering we’re facing Glen Perkins, a soft tossing lefty who has always struggled against the Bombers, and we’ve got the red hot AJ Burnett on the mound. In his last outing, he won against the Blue Jays, going 7 innings and K’ing 7 while only giving up two runs.
In the previous outing, he destroyed the Mets, allowing only 1 hit on no runs and striking out 10 hitters in seven innings of work. Needless to say, he got the victory in that ballgame, too.
So look for a win in that game, and hopefully Boston will be able to lose a game. That way, we will be in a tie for first place with the Sox, which would be pure awesomeness in a bucket.
By the way, before I go, allow me to discuss the decision by the Yankees to make Alfredo Aceves the starting pitcher who will replace Chien-Ming Wang while he’s trying to recover from his most recent disabled list stint.
There are two sides to this decision. First off, you could be against it because Alfredo Aceves has been so unbelievably great out of the ‘pen, and you don’t want to take a good, effective arm out of the bullpen, and I think I’m on that side. You know, we have such good chemistry and effectiveness in that bullpen that it’s a little dangerous to mess with it. Plus, we have starting pitchers in the minor leagues: Sergio Mitre, George Kontos(although he’s on the 7 day DL), Ivan Nova… On the other hand, people in favor of this say that Aceves was great in his starts last year and that this way, we could bring Albaladejo back into the bullpen and have Aceves, who was a longman in the pen anyway, start games. I hear that. I’m not saying this isn’t going to work, and I’m not saying that I mind the Yankees making this move, I just would prefer the former argument.
Song of the Day is Away by Breaking Benjamin.
That’s it for today.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ, the Kid From New York
Despite AJ’s Efforts, Marlins Beat Yankees
The Yankees unfortunately lost 2-1 to Florida yesterday thanks to an inability to hit off of Marlins ace Josh Johnson and a sloppy error in left by Johnny Damon. It was a great game, but a frustrating one.
And look, this is one of those losses that I won’t blame the Yankees completely for, even though if Damon hadn’t dropped a somewhat routine fly ball the game would have been tied and we might’ve even won. But let’s face it, Josh Johnson is a dominant starting pitcher and he showed that once again last night. Coming into the ballgame, I knew it would’ve been very difficult for the Yanks to get anything off of Johnson, and I was exactly right. He was locating fastballs with very good velocity and throwing solid breaking balls. His location, his eceonomy. He was nearly unhittable, and we were lucky to get one run off him.
This Yankees team is very frustrating though. They show you promise, they look like they’re about to come back and use that Yankee magic to win again, and then they completely blow their chances. That error by JD was absolutely devastating, and I don’t think any Yankee fan or baseball fan who was able to see that game will argue with me on that. Damon put us in a position where we not only had to score one run against the overpowering Josh Johnson, but we had to score two. That seemed impossible.
I just wanted the Bombers to get Johnson out of the game. When they took him out, that was our best shot, even though the Marlins’ bullpen has been really good this season. I was relieved.
Unfortunately we were unable to capitalize on the exit of Johnson, as a game ending double play by Robinson Cano (sounds familiar) just killed all hopes of beating this damn under .500 team.
So, of course, that loss was completely frustrating but I guess understandable.
By the way, I’d like it for JD to sit today’s game. Put Melky in left and Gardner in center, because Gardy’s ready to go after that collision. I can understand not letting Gardner play so quickly after the accident(even though he pinch ran yesterday), but Johnny’s clearly being set back by eye problems. He’s not hitting well at all, first of all, and now that drop? Jeez man. Gardner really should play today.
We’re facing the tall sinker-baller Chris Volstad today. Volstad is one of my favorite pitchers, and he can really dominate at times, but you can see the numbers aren’t very dazzling.
4-7, 4.75 ERA.
But the numbers are really skewed by his performance so far this month, which is definitely encouraging for the Yanks. In June, Chris Volstad(who is now no. 41 rather than 71, as it was in that picture) is 0-3 with a 9 ERA. Now, those numbers are a little misleading: his first loss was a cheap one, as he had a quality start(2 runs in 6 innings) but the Marlins weren’t able to score against San Fran. In his second start, he was much worse, giving up 6 runs in 5.2 innings with 10 base knocks allowed. His third start was the one where he blew up, surrendering an ugly 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in 3.2 innings. So he’s coming off a terrible start against Boston.
But Volstad is a very good pitcher, don’t be fooled by those numbers. He has a hard sinker that is his main out pitch, so he uses his height to his advantage with that pitch. That sinker could tear apart this Yankees lineup, clearly, since we have a couple hitters who are very prone to a double play (Posada, Jeter, Cano, Swisher, sometimes Alex).
So don’t think that the Yankees automatically are going to beat up Volstad, because when you combine the double play-prone Yankees and their inconsistency regarding hitting pitchers they’ve never seen before, and you have a potentially un-promising mix.
But don’t worry too much, because we have our ace, CC Sabathia on the mound, and he has a 3.35 Earned Run Average on the road, much better than his home ERA. Sabathia has pitched well of late, so hopefully he can tear through this Marlins lineup and we can give him some run support.
Song of the Day is Just Like You by Three Days Grace.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Woo, We Beat The Nationals?
I really didn’t come into this blog with any specific ideas for it, I just wanted to holla at y’all (as they would say in the hood), make a quick blog, you know, try and get some comments. I’m aiming for Top 50 MLBlogs, and in order to do that, I gotta blog at least once every two days. I’m not Vanessa(shameless plug).
So we beat the Nats last night, of course. It was a come from behind victory, which seems to surprise some people and I guess almost outrages Yankee fans that we didn’t blow them out. Well, I’m not that outraged. I’m glad it was a win and I’m glad it was a great ballgame. I couldn’t care less how we win, as long as it’s a win and as long as we play well. We did just that yesterday. So if you’re a Yankee fan and you’re angry that we didn’t kick them around; calm down. It’s going to be alright.
In other news, I got my report card today and I am not going to summer school, despite the concerns that I had about possibly going to summer school for the first time ever. So now I don’t have to worry about that, My primary concern for this summer remains the same as it has every year: play video games, be lazy, go places sometimes, and now, for the second consecutive year, blog it out on the Yankees.
Song of the Day(Cause I’m DOING THAT now. WHAT?!)
Stay positive, Yankee fans. I’ll try and get another blog in tonight after the game. Also, tomorrow’s my last day, I’m getting out at 10, so thank God for that!
-EJ the Kid From New York
The Frankie Factor: Yanks Thrash Mets
Well would you look at that? I blogged earlier today and admitted that this would be a probable loss for the Yankees today with Santana on the mound and Burnett going against him, but this turned out to be the exact opposite. The 2009 Yankees gave Johan Santana his worst outing not only of the year, but of his entire career! These guys can be lights out offensively. Yesterday we didn’t see those bats against Nieve, but we kicked butt today against the second best pitcher in baseball.
AJ Burnett was great today, he was throwing hard and also had a solid breaking ball. But one interesting story of today’s game was the performance of a certain first-year backstop:
Francisco Cervelli went 3 for 5 with 3 singles and a crucial two out, two strike, bases loaded bloop single off Johan Santana to plate the first run and get the Yankees’ first big rally started. The Pinstripers went on to score 3 more runs in that inning. I am telling you, we need to give this guy some starts. Posada is not getting it done for us behind the plate. He’s collecting a couple knocks here and there but he can’t throw anyone out or call a good ballgame. Francisco Cervelli is hitting better and in more timely situations, he’s calling great games(caught all 9 shutout innings today in this 15-0 victories), he’s throwing out runners and the Yankees are winning with this guy behind the plate.
To go with that, he’s also providing a very valuable energy to this Bombers ballclub. Did you see his infield single in his second at bat? A little roller to the right side to Murphy, the first baseman’s right, and Murphy makes a bad play flipping the ball underhand to Santana at first. Frankie is busting it down the first base line and he makes it to first base safely, and then slides after making it to the bag. He’s doing enthusiastic fist pumps when his pitchers get a K in a key situation.
Joe Girardi, I love you, but when you put Posada out there to catch, you are severely holding not only us back, but also the development of this young backstop. When you put Posada in the lineup, put him at DH or first to give Tex a day off. Start him at catcher occasionally, but let Francisco Cervelli work his magic more often. He is more than a capable backup; he is a capable starter.
By the way, the Metropolitans have looked absolutely ridiculous this series. They got a win yesterday, but it wasn’t a dominating win, it was kinda ugly in my opinion. Not only did they have that drop to lose the game on Friday, they kept blowing leads and they didn’t look good at all. Today they obviously looked their worst; unable to score with the bases loaded and no outs, Alex Cora not running to first on a strikeout/wild pitch, Daniel Murphy with a dumb play underhand flipping the baseball to first and letting Cervelli go in safe. They looked lackadaisical after a while, and it was a saaad sight to see.
Anyways, fantastic game, I’ll do the 5 best starters entry tomorrow, but for now, chew on this little recap.
Thursday is my last day of school, I have half days from Monday-Thursday, so I’ll try and blog earlier in the day.
Stay positive, Yankee fans!
-EJ “Cervelli’s Biggest Fan” the Kid From New York
2009 New York Yankees Infield
Welcome to the next part of this like, 5 or 6 part series, breaking down parts of the New York Yankees ballclub. In this series, I look at several key parts of the Yankees, player-by-player, and give them a rating. So far, the ratings aaaare:
Catchers: 2 out of 5
Bench: 3.5 out of 5
Bullpen: 4.2 out of 5
Now today, we’re breaking down the infield.
Third Baseman: Alex Rodriguez
Okay, yeah, if you’re goiing to say something about steroids, I suggest you stay quiet. A-Rod is still the 2nd best player in baseball and he ain’t going nowhere. So as long as he’s still here, he’s still going to be a fantastic player with good defense, good speed, amazing power and very good contact ability. He’s an all around complete player, no way around it.
Shortstop: Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are probably the most famous left side of the infield in baseball. However, as great a career as Jeter has had, he’s not a great player anymore. He’s still a good hitter who can hit the ball to all fields, but he has mediocre power and average speed, to go along with his bad defense. Really, his defense isn’t awful at this point in his career, but he still doesn’t have much range at all. Even though he’s not superb and he’s not going to hit .330 anymore, with 20 homers and 20 steals or so, he’s definitely not bad. He still has the capability of 180-190 hits every year, and about a .300 average. On the other hand… at this stage of his career, DJ is most likely in a decline, so his production will go down. Even if he is slightly worse than he was last year, I could totally put up with that. It’s hard to find a good amount of shortstops that produce as much as him.
Second Baseman: Robinson Cano
It’s going to be very interesting to see what Robby will do this year. His average has been on a steady decline for the past 3 years, but you and I both know what he’s capable of. Cano is a great hitter, who can get base hits on almost every ball pitched to him. He can hit balls well above the strike zone, outside, inside, etc. Most likely, he’ll bounce back from a mediocre 2008 campaign. He still has to work on his patience and his typical slow starts every year, but he definitely can rake and has done so in the 2nd half of all of his seasons. Let’s see if Cano will reach his full potential or put up a similar campaign to his 08 one.
First Baseman: Mark Teixeira
There’s not much to say here, except we have solid gold at first base. I mean come on, first of all, this guy is one of the better hitters in the game. He’ll put up a great average and have great power numbers to go along with his high on base percentage from all of his walks. Not only that, he’s also an incredible defensive player. He’s likely to compete for the MVP this year. Now Teixeira, like Robinson Cano, is known to be a slow starter and a hot finisher. Hopefully he’ll carry a solid Yankee offense to the playoffs in the first year of their new stadium after missing the postseason last year.
So my overall rating of the Yanks infield iiiis…
*drumroll*
A 4.5 out of 5.
Pretty high huh? Well it really helps to have the best corners in baseball.
That’s about it, not really much else to talk about. If you want me to discuss anything specific in my next blog entry, leave me a comment and let me know, won’t ya?
Stay positive, Yankee fans!
-EJ the Kid From New York
The Squad 