The Robinson Cano Dilemma

A debate among New York Yankees fans has been heating up over the past few days: the debate to trade Robinson Canó, or extend his contract, to a nine-figure deal, keeping him in the Bronx for the next several years.


Some Yankee fans want the Yankees to honor their team's heritage of spending more and more money, always improving the team, never acknowledging any fiscal limitations.

Other fans are wary of issues signing players, who are good today, to long-term contracts that will continue to pay them like superstars through their post-prime years.

Alex Rodriguez is most often used as the example of this argument, but the truth is there are dozens of examples since the Yankees signed Catfish Hunter on the last day of 1974.

Over at the MLBTR Yankees Facebook page, one commenter states: He's a talent that you see every once n a while but if he wants much than I say....let him walk.

We're not trying to poke fun at this fan's opinion, but my question is how often is "every once in a while"? Does he mean every few years? Every 20 years? Once in a lifetime?

I'm thinking that Robinson Cano is about as good as any second baseman we can expect to see for the next 15 years, at least.

There are many ways of measuring Robinson Cano's greatness.

For one, here is how he ranks among Second Baseman of the past 50 years, with at least 750 games played through their Age-29 season, by OPS+ (SPOILER ALERT: He ranks 3rd)...

Rk	Player	OPS+
1	Rod Carew	130
2	Joe Morgan	129
3	Robinson Cano	123
4	Pete Rose	123
5	Bobby Grich	122
6	Craig Biggio	120
7	Roberto Alomar	119
8	Dustin Pedroia	117
9	Ian Kinsler	114
10	Jose Vidro	113
11	Chuck Knoblauch	112
12	Ryne Sandberg	112
13	Jorge Orta	112
14	Alfonso Soriano	111
15	Bill Doran	111
16	Lou Whitaker	110
17	Rickie Weeks	106
18	Kelly Johnson	106
19	Jeff Kent	106
20	Robby Thompson	106
21	Jim Lefebvre	106
22	Ron Hunt	106
23	Howie Kendrick	105
24	Willie Randolph	105
25	Mike Andrews	104
Rk	Player	OPS+
26	Davey Johnson	104
27	Marcus Giles	103
28	Carlos Baerga	103
29	Johnny Ray	102
30	Brian Roberts	101
31	Juan Samuel	101
32	Tony Bernazard	101
33	Ray Durham	100
34	Delino DeShields	99
35	Steve Sax	99

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/9/2012.

I never would have guessed that, over the past 50 years, only 33 second basemen had an OPS+ over 100.

More detailed looks will show that Robinson Cano is among the league leaders in OBP, SLG, Hits, and Extra Base Hits.

Dating back to 1902, only Rogers Hornsby played at least half of his games at Second Base and hit more Homeruns than Robinscon Cano through their Age 29 seasons...

Rk	Player	HR ▾
1	Rogers Hornsby	180
2	Robinson Cano	177
3	Alfonso Soriano	162
4	Joe Gordon	142
5	Ryne Sandberg	139
6	Bobby Doerr	138
7	Chase Utley	130
8	Rickie Weeks	130
9	Ian Kinsler	124
10	Dan Uggla	121
11	Carlos Baerga	121
12	Juan Samuel	116
13	Tony Lazzeri	114
14	Roberto Alomar	113
15	Brandon Phillips	112
16	Jeff Kent	107
17	Joe Morgan	103
18	Jose Vidro	101
19	Aaron Hill	98
20	Ray Durham	97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/9/2012.

Let's open the floor to discussion... Should the Yankees extend Robinson Cano for the next 5, 6, or 7 years, at an expense over $100 million? Or, should they trade him for prospects, before losing him via Free Agency?

How many more games will Robinson Cano have
as a Yankee? How many more should he have?