Over the last few days, I have seen a number of commenters on the blogs that I frequent suggest that the Yankees trade Robinson Cano while his value is high. They cite his poor numbers with runners in scoring position and suggest that he has peaked to justify moving him. Personally, I would be very wary regarding any trade that includes Cano. He is a career .306/.339/.480 hitter from the middle infield, making him one of the top 5 players at a premium position (probably behind Utley and Pedroia, with judgment reserved on Zobrist). He is also signed to an affordable deal, and the Yankees do not have anyone that could adequately replace him.
I am not saying that I would never trade him. Nobody is untradeable, and there are packages for which I would send Robbie packing. However, being that he is the only young bat in the Yankees lineup, a premium bat would need to be coming back to the Yankees for any deal to work. With an aging lineup that is almost certain to begin developing holes in the coming years, the Yankees may find that Cano is more valuable to them than most of the clubs that might seek to acquire him in a trade.
What do you think? Would you trade Robbie? What would you want in return?
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73 Responses to Discussion: Trading Robinson Cano?
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There is a no way I want to see Robbie go anywhere. He is a special player that I think is going to continue to get better.
I agree and besides who are you going to get that is of equal value for Robinson Cano and at the same time will also make up for Ramiro Pena/Hairston or Kevin Russo playing everyday at 2B?
I disagree some on the getting a bat in return, to dish Robbie I wouldn’t want anything less back than a top flight, young but proven starting pitcher I mean he would have to be the biggest part of a Felix Hernandez trade to warrant letting him go. I just think if you trade him for a bat you are asking for trouble,Cano still has the abiltity to develop into a perennial 25-30 HR, 180+ hits,.320+ BA guy and almost anyone you trade him for Robinson probably has as much or more potential than that player.
I was thinking sort of like the Soriano-A-Rod trade. He is a great player, but he will never be in that category.If you could package him with a pitching prospect or two to get a Matt Kemp or a Justin Upton (never gonna get Upton, but let me dream), I would probably make the move.
I wouldn’t go for Kemp because you could get another young CF for less and still be able to keep Cano, Justin I would have to agree if it’s a 1-1 deal involving those 2, it’s been a dream of mine for a while to have his brother and Justin has way more potential than BJ… but as you said never going to happen for just Cano.
There aren’t many young CF’ers with Kemp’s production or potential. He’s a legit middle of the order bat.
Yeah but there aren’t a lot of guys at 2B who can hit like Robinson or hi with the abiltity he has, I mean you are talking about a guy who has already hit .340 and it really wouldn’t be surprising if he hit .340 next year with 25+ HRs.
I am just saying you could get a Curtis Granderson for less and he isn’t as good as Kemp long term but he doesn’t cost as much either and in that case you still keep Cano, that is why I wouldn’t trade him Kemp… Felix is one of the best pitchers in the league I would give up Cano for that but with our lineup the difference between Granderson and Kemp won’t show up and the price difference leans towards Granderson or another CFer like that because of Robinson Cano over Ramiro Pena or Orlando Hudson at 2B.
Kemp is gooooood and young(25). If only the Yankees were able to get their hands on that guy!!!! Cano straight up doesnt get it done.
I think your overstating the case here, Matt Kemp is in fact, not much better than Curtis Granderson. last year he was worth abbout 5 WAR, Granderson 06 (when he was also 25) was 3.9, Granderson 07 : 7.3 (that was a bit fluky obviously but still, that was a legitimate MVP worthy wseason)
Given the current composition of the team, I don’t see how Cano’s going to be traded. he’s affordable for the Yankees, but going foward he’s due to make 9/10/14/15 , not exactly as affordable as you think, for a non-Yankee team.
If the trade involves King Felix seeeee yaaaaaa! I doubt the Mariners would want to trade Hernandez for a 2b. Not that they wouldnt like Cano but for his money the next two seasons (which is reasonable)they could pay Hernandez. Robbie is still young at 27 should be just entering his prime years. He is probably top 3 at his position with the bat and plays gold glove type defense. Plus if Damon/Matsui dont return his lefthanded bat will be needed more than ever. There is a reason why so many compare him to Rod Carew. He can hit!!!!! Now if only the Yankees can get him to hit with RISP. Bottom line is he is young and very very talented. Lets not be so quick to give up on him.
Agreed. I would need to be getting a superstar player in return, or someone even younger with even more potential in a deal. Obviously Cano alone cant get you that, but as part of a package he might. Otherwise I hold onto him.
Yeah I doubt the M’s trade Felix at all, I mean they aren’t far from competing in that division and he is on his way to being the best right handed starting pitcher in the AL and he isn’t even close to his best years yet.
Cano has tremendous talent and should only be traded for someone with as much or more potential than him, f we don’t trade for Granderson (and Damon leaves) I would really like to see Girardi finally move Cano to the 2nd hole in the lineup because I think it would allow him to get on base more in front of the big bats and he would be hitting behind Jeter so even though he isn’t a pull hitter a few more balls might get through on the first base side for him.
I agree with Cano at number 2. To add to him not being a pull hitter I will point out that with Jeter on first the SS would have to play closer to 2b opening up the left side as well as the right side. Cano is just to good of a hitter to give up on because of one bad post season.(Arod stunk at one time) I know the RISP is scary but if he corrects that he can very well be a perennial 100 rbi guy. Cmon Robbie fix the RISP stat and walk a little more and your arguably the best 2b in the game.
This is a guy who had 200 hits in the 7th spot…!!! He really is a beast, I can’t believe people seriously want to trade him.
I personally see the Ms keeping Hernandez and going hard after Lackey. Hernandez 1 Lackey 2 instantly makes them a contender in the AL west especially if the Angels dont have Lackey.
I doubt they go after Lackey, he wants 100 million and it doesn’t make sense to spend that much on Lackey unless they think they can’t re-sign Hernandez. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them get Rich Harden or bring back Washburn, I would expect them to pick up a bunch of cheaper players to be able to put a better team on the field that can at least compete in their division.
What he wants and what he gets are two totally different monsters. I can see Harden and or Washburn going there as well. Either way Im not trading Cano unless its for an ace. Obviously there are some position players but most of those guys arent available so its not worth writing about.
He will get 4-6 years I guarantee it because he is the only pitcher on the FA market who could actually lead a team as a so called “ace” I don’t believe he is an true “ace” like Sabathia is but he is all this market has so he gets to call the shots.
Agreed!
That’s my point, he may be good but not worth what it takes especially when you can get Granderson 3 years older with a little less talent and keep Cano.
Agreed its much easier to get an OF that comes close to Kemp than a second baseman that can produce like Robinson. Jeter and Cano were the first middle infield combo to have 200+ hits each. No need to mess with that. If Robinson hit at all during the post season we would not even be having this discussion.
Not to mention his stellar D for most of the year, he seemed to slip some at the end but for the most part when he messes up it’s mental mistakes.
Im not sold on Granderson either. I do like him as a player and a person but I wouldnt give up much for him. Ks and lefthanded pitching scares me. Not to mention if it is money relief he doesnt make a lot so why is Detroit dealing him. If Detroit is desperate and its a Swisher type deal its one thing. I just dont see them being that desperate. I feel like its a Curtis is available for the right package.
He makes enough money for a smaller market team to want to trade him now while he’s young so they can get something for him, you are talking about a team who blew a huge lead to the Twins who got swept by us in the first round. They need to upgrade positions, if they get Jackson, McAllister and 2 more prospects they would do it… I don’t think it would take Montero, Hughes or Joba so I say go for it.
He strikes out but so does Austin Jackson and at least with Granderson you know he has power and in this lineup I think you would see a much more patient hitter who’s average would go up… If you look at Granerson’s good batting average season’s he hits lefties better so he just needs to be more patient and focus on hitting more singles and not try to jack everything… All his problems go back to being in love with HRs.
Why get rid of any current talent when you can afford to buy it in the offseason? The Yanks just won the WS, there is no immediate rush to go sign anybody. The best thing the Yanks can do this offseason is go get John Lackey with a big fat check.
There is no immediate rush to sign anyone, run out and get Lackey? Why would you want to have another AJ contract? Lackey like AJ is over 30 and will want 4-5 years and 100+ million on a contract, that doesn’t make any sense for a number 2 pitcher when it will make AJ an extremely over paid 3rd pitcher…
The Yankees won the world series we don’t need 1 big move, we just need to tweak things here or there to get younger and more athletic on defense.
The best thing to do would be to become better on D in the outfield and signing 1 of the lesser starting pitchers is after that, we don’t need another overrated pitcher on the staff! Besides Lackey is coming off back to back season without reaching 200 IP I don’t want to unload a contract to him he doesn’t deserve.
also you have to trade some current talent away to open up roster spots otherwise you will just lose talent anyway.
I’d love for Lackey to agree to a 3 year deal with us, but it probably won’t happen because theres desperate teams out there (the Mets) who will probably offer him 4-5 for similar money. I’d love to have Lackey on the Yanks for the next 3 years. I think he’s a playoff experienced pitcher who loves the spotlight. The Yanks pitching staff this year was impeccable (besides Wang) from a health issue. Besides CC and AJ (and a winding down Pettite) we don’t have any experienced SP. Who knows what the future holds for Hughes and Joba YET.
Your correct about the defense, and I’d love to get Granderson. But I don’t want to see Montero go (I’d be willing to part with Jackson and Joba).
Any ideas about other possible prospective outfielders?
You wouldn’t have to give up Joba or Montero in a deal for Granderson… Curtis is a salary dump so the Tigers are just looking for 2-4 players who can fill spot for cheap under team control… Jackson, McAllister, Romine maybe a Nova and some bullpen arms are the ones that are available for Granderson. That’s what makes him worth the trade because the deal will center around Jackson.
Also Joba has no trade value right now because no one looks at him as anything more than a reliever so we have to keep him for now.
Lackey isn’t a clean bill of health guy (Hasn’t pitched 200 innings in 3 years) and he won’t accept a 3 year deal so no way would I want Lackey on The Yankees next year! You would be best to go with the Sheets low risk High reward type of starter or make a trade.
If it’s not Granderson then I don’t think I would want to make a trade unless BJ Upton is available for the right price, if your talking free agents the only outfielder I would sign is Mike Cameron because he can play CF or LF at an above average level and you can have him start in CF and Melky in LF or Gardner in CF with Cameron in LF, and if you make the Granderson trade then you have Cameron-Granderson-Swisher with Gardner as your 4th outfielder and Melky can be traded.
Joba has no trade value? Wow. This kid is young and people forget that. It is very likely he will improve. Already he has shown flashes, I mean, in games where he had his arm strength and pumped up his fastball he looked about as nasty as there is. I wouldn’t trade him for Granderson or Halladay… or a lot of guys. I think he just has to hit the weight room and get a little older and wiser.
As far as Lackey, I would love the Yanks to continue with the line of reasoning that pitching wins championships. Perhaps 5 years is overboard but if his is a contract that could be had at a reasonable cost I would pull the trigger. People we so opposed to signing AJ last year but I don’t think we would have won the WS had we not signed him. A lot of teams are cutting costs so you never know he could be a lot cheaper than original projections.
Right now he has no trade value…. When he improves his value will improve but scouts around baseball right now only see him as a reliever and not a great one at that right now… starters carry trade value not relievers if the Yankees were going to trade him they would wait at least a year is my point.
Joba never really pumped up his fastball, even in games he hit 95 as a starter he started out 91 MPH he just never showed to be a starter so right now he has no value as a starter like it or not.
AJ has a lot better stuff than Lackey and you aren’t looking past this year! You have to think about what happens when CC is 32+ and Lackey is 36 and Burnett is 37 and you have a really old rotation you can’t move anywhere… Championships are won by pitching but also getting young not older in the process… We need a cheaper low risk high reward starter not an overrated pitcher who wants to be paid like an ace.
No he won’t be a lot cheaper… The Mets, Red Sox and Angels all would be willing to give 4 years and more than AJ got last year I’m sure and the Brewers have met with his agent as well, he will get paid this year.
If you don’t think Joba had some great starts this year then I guess you can have that opinion. His start in Cleveland comes to mind. I would also think if the Yanks scouts believe in him as a starter others might as well. Sure I’ll agree he could raise his value but to say he has no trade value is overstated in my opion.
Looking down the road at Lackey, I think you avoid a 5 yr commitment but he could be a very strong member of the rotation for the next 3 or maybe 4… I bet if you sign Holliday it is going to be a longer contract. As with a lot of top end pitchers though you can have success even as they age. Pettitte is an example.
As far as being sure he won’t come cheaper than the 100mil early projections… well we’ll just have to wait and see. With the way last year wound down and the weak consumer in the US, I just feel there aren’t going to be too many teams stretching payroll.
Mean to say Halladay.
I read the Red Sox are interested in Lackey, I hope they sign him! We have already proven we can beat him and his contract will make it harder for them to re-sign Beckett, and in 2013 Lester’s contract comes up again and by that time Lackey will still be under contract and by that time Lackey will be 35 and towards the end. they would basically be paying 100 million dollars for their 3rd rotation starter and the money they pay to Dice K makes him the 4th and Wakefield has no way of going to the minors and they re-sign him to a 2 year deal so Buchholz who actually did good against us this year would be the odd man out. Not to mention paying 100 million for Lackey probably limits how much they are willing to spend on Chapman and on upgrading their offense, although Buchholz becomes expendable and that could net them some offensive production but it would further out their future in trouble.
If the Red Sox sign Lackey so be it. Like you said we already beat him.
It only hurts their future flexibility and they are already locked in on a lot of roster spots right now!
I actually think if Texas wants him they can have him the cheapest, they have a team that can contend if they get a little bit stronger veteran pitching which he would help with and he is from down here and would love to go back.
No need to go crazy trying to sign Lackey. Have a wait and see what happens approach like Teixeira last year. If he is available late his demands will surely come down. I cant see having another AJ contract for a pitcher over 30. With Lackey and AJ signed to big contracts you are loosing flexibility in the future. Lackey is a beast but injuries and the fact that he hasnt hit 200 innings in the last two seasons is a bit worrisome. How come the Angels are not showing much effort to resign him?
I can’t even call Lackey a “beast” when has the guy been in top 5 for Cy Young? When has he carried a team? The truth is AJ has far and away better stuff than Lackey and both are on the down hill side of their careers Lackey can go sign his overrated deal somewhere else if it were up to me.
Your right about a “beast” He isnt abeast but he is a gamer that wants the ball when it counts.
That is true but that alone isn’t worth 100 million for a 31 year old pitcher with injury concerns and a fastball in 90-93 MPH range.
I just think you could fill a lot of other spots with that money… I mean you could sign Chapman to a 40 million dollar deal, sign Matsui to a 10 million dollar deal and Mike Cameron to a 10 million dollar (Neither would get that much but for the sake of argument) deal and still have 40 million left over for starting pitching.
Lets be honest. He stunk in the clutch all year including the playoffs. So did Arod for years and Tex wasn’t exactly Mr. October this year. Few young players consistently hit well in pressure situations. Handling the emotions is a big part of it and comes with maturity. Cano will get there.
I think Tex had less to do with nerves and more to do with timing, he is a guy who lives and dies by his timing because of his mechanics swinging and the way he sits on his back leg. At the beginning of the year he struggled real bad with timing and towards the end the same thing happened. Cano’s looked all emotional, he completely changed his game plan and took the first pitch on almost every at bat in the playoffs, he just wasn’t himself on either side of the ball, he was almost not there at times.
Tex def had to do with timing and I believe it was Joe Morgan who no matter what anyone thinks about him knows a thing or two about hitting brought up a great point. Tex Swish and even Melky a little all struggled in the post season. Between days off between series and days off in series it can be really hard for a switch hitter to get his timing back.
Especially with everyone we faced with the exception of the Twins could switch up right handed and left handed starting pitching.
Whats everyones thought on Chapman?
I have watched the videos that are out there and he looks good, very raw but strong! He has a lot of mechanical flaws and that may go along with his velocity fluctuations, I have seen glimpses of a good slider but most of the time it;s pedestrian and I have never seen anything else besides a bad change one or twice in the videos… He has a lot of work to do and mostly on developing his slider and a change but he has all the skills necessary to be great. I wouldn’t want to go over 45 million for 4 years or 55 million for 5 years something like that, it’s very expensive but worth the risk if he pans out, and if he fails as a starter you may have your next closer.
Good point with the next closer. Thats a pretty good idea. Hey worst case scenario the Yankees can produce a reality show “Who wants to marry the richest men in Scranton” starring Igawa and Chapman.
This is a completely different deal than Igawa though, scouts questioned Igawa’s stuff translating to the bigs before the Yankees ever signed him but with Chapman you know he will have the stuff it just comes down to command and secondary pitches… Igawa is stuck in Scranton that won’t happen to Chapman he would be on a MLB roster even if he couldn’t get it together because of his fastball velocity.
I read that a couple of Japanese teams would be willing to buy Igawa back but he refused the deal.
I read that, doesn’t surprise me though he makes more money here pitching in Scranton than he does in Japan so I would probably refuse too!
He gets to be what Chien Ming Wang was for us (the best pitcher you have but not an “ace”) to Scranton every year so I guess he likes that hahaha.
More pitching news
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick spoke to Ben Sheets’ agent Casey Close, who said his client is doing well rehabbing his February flexor tendon surgery and plans to be ready for Spring Training.
“Several teams have already inquired about Sheets, according to Close. Three front office officials Crasnick spoke to expect Sheets will have to audition for teams, maybe in January or February. If he looks good, I imagine a dozen teams will be interested.”.
So Ben should be ready in time for Spring, I don’t know if I trust his arm but if the doctors clear him to go and he takes an incentive laden deal he makes one of the best 4-5 starters in baseball.
If I could trade Cano, it would either be for a great young outfielder or a young ace like Clayton Kershaw or Yovani Gallardo.
I like Gallardo but do you think he has the abiltity to be an ace in the AL? He throws to many pitches in the NL, the AL might drive his pitch count Dice K levels.
I will say I would do a Matt Kemp and Klayton Kershaw for Robinson Cano, Hughes, Joba and Jackson deal…
Gallardo might have a tough time in the AL. AL lineups are so much longer. Especially if they have a nice hitting catcher. Just look at the difference in the Yankees lineup with Molina and AJ compared to Posada and Matsui in the WS during game 5 .
At the same time Gallardo will be a year older and maybe wiser. Maybe he figures it out.
He has good raw stuff but he has command issues and he needs to learn to pitch contact a little more sometimes so he can go longer in games, that is what guys like Joba have to realize you don’t have to save your arm if you know when to look for the K and when to pitch for the GB to get out of a bad situation or save yourself for later in the game.
Sheets is very interesting. I wonder who is in better health Wang or Sheets? Sheets if healthy can be the steal of the off season even on an incentive laden deal. CC AJ Pettitte Sheets(healthy) and Hughes(???) make up a nice staff with Joba setting up Mo.
Sheets can actually throw and has more than 1 pitch Wang on the other hand won’t be able to throw for Spring training most likely… Besides Sheets had his surgery last year not during the end of the season.
Joba isn’t setting up Mo I would guarantee you! If we get another starter Joba or Hughes whichever one doesn’t make the rotation will go down to Scranton to either A. Monitor Hughes innings or B. further develop Joba at a level of less scrutiny and no win now needs.
The problem with Wang is (I and other have been saying it) he is a 1 pitch pitcher and will be even more so now after another shoulder injury and before he could be because he was throwing 95 MPH sinking fastballs guys would drive into the ground, this year he was 90-92 at that velocity level he is closer to Mitre than the 19 game winning Wang. You never know if his velocity will get better, worse or stay the same now…
I hope Joba and Hughes both figure out how to become great starters. What a boost that would be to the whole organization if those to develop into frontline starters. They are under team control for a while still.
I could see Joba developing into a number 2 possibly number 1 starter if his velocity goes back up to 93-96 with occasional 97-98 but with his current velocity I don’t know what he can do in the starting rotation but he will get every chance to try. Hughes on the other hand I have never been high on and I have taken criticism because of that he has a great curve, a very straight fastball at 90-92 MPH, an OK cutter/slider and people talk about his change but you never really see it that often so who knows what that pitch will ever be to him, either way I don’t see him being a 1-2 starter if things work out for him I could see him being a lesser version of John Lackey but he doesn’t have the same fire or mental strength of John and I always thought that was the best part of Lackey’s game so who knows what that means for Hughes.
There is reason to be optimistic about both but both have major stumbling blocks to overcome before they are good starter let alone great ones.
Man you bring up trading Cano and 50+ comments spring up… Hotly debated subject, I wonder if the Yankees are considering this at all? I hope not because I doubt we get value back after his postseason, not to mention we don’t know where Cano’s talent level will take him yet.
Even the idea of trading Cano is crazy and ridiculous! This guy is 27 years old, batting over 320 in the regular season with 25 HRs and 85 RBIs. You want to trade him away? Are you nuts? What would you get back in return and who do you want to play 2nd base? For some Yankee fans, even bringing in Joe Morgan in his prime would not make them happy! Get REAL!!!!!!!!!!!! Yankees just had the best record in baseball in regular season and won the WS! There is no need for such desperate move!
Sure, Cano struggled in postseason and did not hit well with RISP this year (he still has 85 RBIs!). But was ARod like that a couple of years back? What’s the big deal? With the exception of Utley, even Pedroia is not necessarily a better 2B. Look at his numbers for this year, maybe Boston should trade him away. Completely Nuts!
Jesus dude chill out it’s the offseason, all baseball people have to do right now is talk about trades and signings…
No one here wants to trade Cano but it is worth looking at different ideas, if you could get Justin Upton straight up for Cano you do that deal in a heart beat because Upton is 22 and .300 last year with 26 HRs and 86 RBI on a terrible team… Now that will never happen but it’s worth talking about. If you could trade Cano and 2 or 3 prospects not named Montero for Felix Hernandez you would be crazy not to! Once again it will never happen but that is the type of trades this thread is discussing.
An example would be Cano, Jackson, Romine and Noesi for Felix Hernandez… Now this deal would never happen but if a deal like that did get accepted you have to take it and sign Orlando Hudson to play 2B, he isn’t the same but with King Felix and CC it wouldn’t matter!
I watched every start Joba had this year and he had 6-9 good starts with 2 or 3 really good starts in there with 2 of them going 8 innings in total his first two and only 8 inning games ever. He had a great start in Tampa as well going 8 innings and dominating the lineup got the whole game but I never said he didn’t have good starts I said he even in those few good starts he still didn’t have his great fastball. In those games he still started the game throwing 91 MPH and he never go to 94+ until the 5th inning in most of those games and then towards the end of the year we never saw higher than 94 out of him again until he went back to the pen and even in the pen during the playoffs he was only throwing 93-96! The old Joba was throwing 97-100 every pitch out of the pen, he isn’t the same player as before and isn’t viewed with as much value anymore.
The Yankees look at him as a starter project but have also made statements recently that make it sound like they aren’t to sure about his potential as a starter and the fact that Girardi never seemed to think that Joba was going to throw harder throughout the year also scares me because it makes me think they know something we don’t.
It’s not overstated, could you trade him? Sure but not for anyone of value and not for anyone you would actually want and so by that I say he has no real trade value because he doesn’t carry much weight… You can’t call the Mariners and say we will give you Joba in a package for Ichiro or Fellix and expect them to be overjoyed, you can’t build a trade around Joba as the main piece right now because no one values him right now.
The Mets, Rangers and Angels will all give him 4 year deals because they all desperately need a starting pitcher like Lackey to take the next step and he is the only one available, if the Red Sox jump in that mix the price goes up even more, right now the Mets have money to burn after they made money this year on outside investments and they can pay Lackey 80 million on 4 years easy. Let’s not forget before the season began Lackey turned down 72 million from the Angels in an extension so he won’t be taking less than that because I’m sure the Angels will re-offer him that deal.
Lackey is 31 and has declining stuff, true he could be good for 2 or 3 more years but he wants 4 years for sure and said he won’t take 3 and from reports he is looking for 5 years and with those numbers I don’t want him, plus adding another 31+ year old to the staff would give us 3 starting pitchers 31+ years in age, heading forward it doesn’t leave much room to move around with.
I also don’t know if I would compare Andy to Lackey in longevity, I mean there are amillion cases to say that you can’t get a lot out of older pitchers and that from year to year they can have huge drop offs in stuff and abiltity.
I don’t know if he will get the full 100 million but what I do expect is a compromise at some point where he will take 20 million a year for 4 years or less than 20 million a year for 5 years and which ever teams want him will pick between the two ideas. That is just my opinion, either way 20 million a year is too much! 18 million is too much! Anything more than 12-15 million is too much for this team when we don’t need Lackey to win.
Halladay will be even older when he is a free agent (33) and he apparently wants 5-6 years on a contract which will take him right to the door step of 40 years old and I really don’t want to be paying a 40 year old Roy Halladay at the same time I’m paying a 38 or so year old Burnett.
As I said I don’t think we need that caliber of pitcher, we just need someone who can be a legit 3rd pitcher in our rotation and that way even if we start Pettitte 3rd we still have someone who can’t start a playoff game who isn’t Gaudin or Mitre.
I agree that we don’t “need” a Halladay. We need to prevent Boston from acquiring him, not so much because they will have a better starting 5 than the Yankees for 162 games, but so that they can’t pitch Beckett, Halladay and Lester against us in either the division playoffs or the league playoffs in 2010. It’s no longer about winning the season series’ against each other during the regular 162, unless it comes down to a Dent/Boone single game playoff. It’s about October, and if we have to go against Halladay, Beckett and Lester, with a bullpen that also has Dice and Buccholz to step ahead of their regular season bullpen in the playoffs, our hitters do not want to face that rotation to decide all the marbles, especially after a great year.
We must not repeat the mistakes of the recent past (incidentally, I don’t consider not getting Santana a mistake. He’s an habitual fly-ball pitcher, and that’s scary with our right/right-center confines) and let gold slip between our fingers. Halladay has the kind of stuff, a la Mike Mussina, that, while losing velocity on his fastball, could keep him a very effective pitcher at 40. Trade for him NOW, make him an extension offer while you have him during the 2010 season. We are not KC. We don’t have to fear Halladay being here for one year and then vacating the premises for greener pastures. There ARE no greener pastures than River Avenue and 161st Street. Ask CC if he would like to go anywhere, and he doesn’t even LIKE New York.
You can borrow my crystal ball if you like. This one’s all about Boston. Believe it. Theo is in need of some heroics to get him out of the swamp, and the acquisition of Victor Martinez, while substantial, is not the move that will elevate him to Cashman status by this afternoon. If he could establish a pitching rotation like the aforementioned, he’d be back to fair-haired boy wunderkind genius GM by next October in Mr. Henry’s eyes. Cashman cannot rest on his laurels. He’s not going to make a better pitching staff by going after so-so talent this time and trying to float it with mix and match bullpen forever. Just because we got CC and AJ last year, though it may appear to be monumental, has still left some doubt and some absolute holes in our pitching. Having Andy back is nice, but let’s not revel in nostalgia and carelessly forget Andy’s downside. For me, this is a really nice rotation: CC/Halladay/AJ/Andy/Hughes. The doubt and fear over Wang appears founded. If not, welcome back, Chien-Ming. The rest of the names make a fine bullpen or delicious trade bait–you pick ‘em.
We do not need to get Halladay to keep Boston from it because they aren’t going to get him. they need to upgrade their offense and the last thing they need is another big time pitching contract they need to extend…
Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past? Like trading or signing for players just because Boston wants them? Mike Mussina never won a ring and you want another one? Musina wasn’t that effective before last year and once he lost his velocity he never really was that great again until we missed the playoffs and he was the best of nothing.
Trading Cano opens up 2B for an aging SS.
I would wait a year though and see what develops, unless the right deal comes along of course. If he has a good 2010 his value goes up, maybe you want to keep him, if it’s not so good he’ll still have trade value unless he falls off a cliff.
Also, if Russo, Corona, Pena and Eduardo Nunez are all still around, one may prove to be a viable everyday middle infielder. Russo isn’t too far off now. Plus who knows who else (like Sublett or Adams) might emerge next year.
Russo is pretty much an offensive 2B who hits almost purely singles, has almost no real power and isn’t fast to top it off, I know he gets a bad rap on D but he still isn’t great and doesn’t have nearly the arm Cano does.
There is no good reason to deal Cano.
1. Good player
2. Valuable
3. Young
4. Favorable contract
There are only 1-4 teams in all of baseball with a better 2b, and yet there are people that want to get rid of him, especially when there is no adequate replacement.
Sure, if he was being traded for Kemp or Greinke or etc I would do it. But otherwise it’s just silly to look to trade him. Or else why don’t we trade everybody when their value is high?
That is the point Mike, to ask who you would trade him for… No one wants to trade Cano for peanuts only a really good starter or perennial all star outfielder…
Need I remind you that a long time ago in, yes far different circumstances, the Yanks traded HOF 2B, Joe Gordon straight up for Allie Reynolds.
Find me a new Allie Reynolds i.e. Matt Cain, Gallardo, or Jair Jurggens and I make that deal in a heartbeat.
Gallardo I think would struggle with his pitch counts in the AL and especially the AL East, he might could do it but trading for an NL pitcher is to much of a risk when trading talent like Robby has!
I’ve discussed this topic many times with my Yankee fan buddies… and, yes, I would trade Cano. With Toronto losing leverage by the minute, I would trade Cano for Halladay. Toronto gets an allstar second baseman for the next 7 years, while moving a player that they are going to lose anyway. The Yanks get another ace, and take a step closer to repeating in 2010.
So where in this grand plan does Aaron Hill fit? You know the all star 2nd baseman who hit 30+ HRs this year and they are planning on having hit 3rd in the order next year.