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