Should The Yankees Have Pulled The Plug On Cano?

Despite all of the inane hoopla with Joe Girardi and the AL All-Star selections, one thing is for sure… Robbie Cano more than deserves to be the starting 2nd baseman.

Making his first all-star team is a thrill enough, especially as a starter… but Cano was looking to really get a charge out of the experiance and participate in the Home Run Derby, which is a lot of hype and a lot of fun for everyone. Cano was excited to do it and looked very forward to it.

That is, until the Yankees removed him from the Derby… without his knowledge.

The All-Star Home Run Derby gets a lot of attention… not only because of the hype surrounding it, but because of the ongoing theory that many participants (especially winners) screw up their swings for the second half after it. Whether this is true or not is pretty inconclusive, seeing that some have had 2nd half droughts (Bobby Abreu, Josh Hamilton for example) and other’s have had not (Prince Fielder, Jason Giambi for example).

Cano found out last night he was no longer participating when reporters looking for a quote to how he felt being scratched from the Derby surrounded him.

Cano told ESPN New York: “To be honest, I was upset,” Cano said. “You guys are talking to me and I don’t know what is going on.”

So while it was reported that Cano pulled out of the Derby due to some minor lower-back pain, Cano confirmed he did NOT pull himself out, and it seems the Yankees did it for him.

The Yankees are notorious for not wanting their players to participate in the Homerun Derby… A-Rod being the most glaring of omissions. He has not been in a home run derby since joining the Yankees in 2004.

So now, they are using the “back pain” issue as the reason they took their 2nd basemen out of the derby without his knowledge, something that seems to have disapointed Cano greatly.

It seems to me that Cano suddenly having a back issue after being healthy all year is quite convienant. While I understand the Yankees can hardly risk losing Cano for an time, they cannot really expect anyone to believe this is the real reason. If they were THAT concernd about his back then why would Cano be playing in the game at all? Wouldn’t they want him to get the four days rest like Mariano Rivera is doing if there was really a back issue?

I think the Yankees just don’t trust Cano to not screw up his swing like others may (or may not) have done in the past after being in the derby. Looking back on his perceived lack of maturity in the oast, their fear may be founded… however removing him from something he so obviously wanted to be in and without him being part of the decision is wrong. The lack of communication is something you’d expect from the Mets.

In any case, what do you think? Should Cano have been left to his own devices? Did the Yankees make the right move? Was the whole thing bungled?

Bad Choices Abound in All-Star Roster Selections

You know, you can excuse the fan votes to an extent. I mean, anyone who picks up a ballot can cast a vote and a lot of players get votes when they are not as deserving due to their popularity or name reconition. However, when the MANAGERS and the PLAYERS get it so wrong, you just want to throw up your hands and wonder what in God’s name were they smoking.

This years All-Star selections are no exception. Some seriously boneheaded picks were made by Joe Girardi and Charlie Manuel as well as the players voting in their peers on Sunday.

Starting with the American League, we have two players picked by their own Manager in a move that screams nepotism. C.C. Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez make the roster despite fairly lackluster numbers, leaving such names as Jered Weaver or Fransisco Linerano and Alex Rios off the roster. Hell, even Andy Pettite was much more deserving than Sabathia was. With Cano, Jeter, Hughes and Rivera all on the team and deserving, the Yankees were MORE than represented. Putting those two on was ridiculous. Sabathia is likely to be taken off the roster since he is due to start on Sunday, but please take into account that 4 of his 10 wins are against the incrediabally bad Baltimore Orioles and Sabathia has obviously struggled this year. Is he having a BAD year? No. Is he having a better year than Pettite, Verlander, Weaver or Liriano? Not in the least.

In the National League Omar Infante, Ryan Howard, Arthur Rhodes and Roy Halladay made the roster, despite Infante not even being a starting player on his own team, and Halliday having a won loss record of 9-7, leaving Mike Pelfrey, Joey Votto, Heath Bell and Mat Latos off the roster. If Manuel needed to get a Phillie on the roster due to the loss of Utely to the DL, at least pick Jason Werth, who is MUCH more deserving than Howard this year. As for Halladay, no matter how great he is, his season has NOT been as good as Pelfrey’s or Latos’.

The choice of Infante must be one of the worst selections almost ever for an all-star team. It’s not like he was the only choice to be had from a bad team. Jason Heyward, Martin Prado and Tim Hudson all are on the roster (although Hudson is ANOTHER one who’s numbers don’t stack up to Pelfrey’s) from the Braves. It just doesn’t make any sense. In fact, his obvious problem with the Mets seems to honestly made him go out of his way to make sure he didn’t select Pelfry on the roster, since most of the pitchers on the NL roster are NOT having seasons better than Pelfrey.

Bad job as well as obvious hometeam picking for the two managers here.

My All-Star Selections

We’re on the verge of the 2010 MLB All-Star game and while the out of control voting is going on, I want to drop in my own set of selections, including a few pitchers from each league.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
C – Victor Martinez, Red Sox
1st – Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
2nd – Robinson Cano, Yankees
SS – Derek Jeter, Yankees
3rd – Evan Longoria, Rays
OF – Carl Crawford, Rays
OF – Alex Rios, Blue Jays
OF – Josh Hamilton, Rangers
DH – Vlad Guerrero, Rangers
SP – David Price, Rays
SP – Phil Hughes, Yankees
SP – Clay Buchholz, Red Sox
SP – Andy Pettite, Yankees
RP – Mariano Rivera, Yankees
RP – Rafael Soriano, Rays
RP – Jose Valverde, Tigers

In most cases it’s hard to argue with a lot of this. I picked Martinez over Joe Mauer because hi overall body of work has just been more solid, although Maur’s been turning it up lately. Cabrera is in a league by himself so far this year and is miles above the other hot shot 1st basemen in Mark Teixeria and Justin Morneau. Cano’s season has been lights out. Jeter’s struggled at times this season, but he’s so far above the other shortstops n the League it’s really not a contest. Longoria’s season has been excellent and the power outage by A-Rod means there’s more than enough of a gap here to warrant his selection, although Adrian Betre’s solid season got some consideration. The outfielders were little harder. Jose Bautista hitting home runs like there’s no tomorrow but his lousy batting average and high strike outs drop him behind the guys I have listed. Guys like Ichiro Suzuki, Torii Hunter and Nelson Cruz got some serious looks in the outfield also. Vlad Guerrero’s amazing comeback year has him looking like the Vlad of 2002 and he holds off the bounceback year that David Ortiez is having. The pitchers weren’t too hard. Price and Hughes have been win machines while Buchholz and Pettite have been dominating. Rivera, Soriano and Valverde not only are among the league leaders in saves, all three have miniscule ERAs and have been scary good so far.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
C – Miguel Olivo, Rockies
1st – Albert Puljos, Cardinals
2nd – Martin Prado, Braves
3rd – David Wright, Mets
SS – Jose Reyes, Mets
OF – Ryan Braun, Brewers
OF – Andre Ethier, Dodgers
OF – Garrett Jones, Pirates
SP – Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies
SP – Josh Johnson, Marlins
SP – Mike Pelfrey, Mets
SP – Adam Wainright, Cardinals
RP – Brian Wilson, Giants
RP - Heath Bell, Padres
RP – Jon Broxton, Dodgers

I went a little off the beaten path with some selections here. I considered Brian McCann and Rod Barajas for catcher, but Mccann’s had a shakey season and Barajas’ june has been weak, so Olivo’s solid and surprising season gets rewarded. Guys like Yadier Molina and Pudge Rodriguez are not having great seasons, despite their high vote count in the all-star voting. Pujols’s slow start is gone and he’s back to normal, holding off excellent seasons from the likes of Joey Votto and Troy Glaus, who also got some thought from me. Chase Utley’s having a terrible season overall, and Martin Prado’s having a breakout year so there was little contest there, with Bradon Phillips getting a small look but comng up short. David Wright is back to being David Wright. Solid seasons from Scott Rolen and Casey Magee got consideration, but Magee has slumped for a while now. Vote leader Palcido Palanco got a brief look, but really doesn’t deserve to be the top vote getter. At Short, Reyes was picked mainly because after a very slow start and a season begun on the DL, he’s been on fire for a month now and the Mets are 20-5 in that time. Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Rameriez both came close, but Tulo’s numbers are Coors Field aided and Rameriez got benched this season for dogging it and showing no class or respect for the game, thus giving him a big strike against him. Jimmy Rollins has been on the DL most of the season and gets no consideration. With the outfielders, I strong considered Jason Heyward but his too low batting average and too many strike outs gave way to my surprise pick of Garret Jones who is putting up a quietly great season in forgotten pittsburg. Barun and Ethier and as solid as they come and their all around numbers were just able to hold out over guys like Jason Werth and Matt Holiday. For the pitchers, Jiminez and Johnson and been SCARY good. Both have had long streaks of no run baseball this season. Pelfrey and Wainwright have been downright dominating in most of their starts holding out over Chris Carpenter, Tyler Clippard and R. A Dickey who are all having great seasons. The closers here, like in the AL, not only have excellent save stats, but have very low ERAs and have been solid.

Time to Start Talking All-Stars: The AL

As the first half of the season starts to wind down, baseball will start to set it’s eyes on the 2010 All-Star Game on July 13th at Angels Stadium.

The voting is going quite well for a few New York baseball players in the Al, and not so well for the NL New Yorkers. Let’s take a look at who’s leading in each league and who the likely pitchers will be while keeping an eye towards possible Yankee and Met selections. We’ll start with the Amercian League.

1ST BASE

1. Justin Morneau Twins 1,402,496
2. Mark Teixeira Yankees 1,221,457
3. Miguel Cabrera Tigers 1,009,822
4. Kevin Youkilis Red Sox 642,407
5. Carlos Pena Rays 457,476

THE LEADERS: Teixera was leading for a while, but Morneau has taken a rather slim advantage in the last two updates. Teixera is having a rather rough year with his batting average hovering around .224, while Morneau is quietly having a great year.
MOST DESERVING: Miguel Cabrera. Morneau is having a fantastic year. Cabrera, however, is on another planet. His 19 home runs, 56 RBI and .330 batting average puts him miles above everyone else.

2ND BASE

1. Robinson Cano Yankees 1,784,896
2. Dustin Pedroia Red Sox 983,716
3. Ian Kinsler Rangers 827,920
4. Orlando Hudson Twins 718,183
5. Ben Zobrist Rays 472,755

THE LEADERS: Cano seems to have this one pretty much locked up with a fairly large lead of over 800,000 votes. Pedoria’s game has slipped a little and while his numbers aren’t bad, he’s not quite burning up the league.
MOST DESERVING: Cano. He’s had excellent seasons before but nothing like this. 13 HRs, 47 RBI and a .368 batting average makes him the obvious choice.

3RD BASE

1. Evan Longoria Rays 1,958,855
2. Alex Rodriguez Yankees 1,271,831
3. Michael Young Rangers 762,266
4. Adrian Beltre Red Sox 462,136
5. Nick Punto Twins 412,268

THE LEADERS: Going into the season you knew that Longoria and A-Rod would be the two top vote gettings and they are. Both have good numbers but A-Rod’s numbers are down for him. Beltre has quietly put together a very good season in Boston.
MOST DESERVING: Longoria. More home runs, more RBI, higher average and he his playing a larger part in the Rays’ wins. A-Rod’s 8 HRs, 43 RBI and .290 batting average is very good… for most 3rd basemen. Not for A-Rod.

SHORTSTOP

1. Derek Jeter Yankees 2,108,659
2. Elvis Andrus Rangers 999,455
3. J.J. Hardy Twins 647,891
4. Jason Bartlett Rays 483,383
5. Alex Gonzalez Blue Jays 446,570

THE LEADERS: Not a lot of exciting shortstops in the AL so far this year with Jeter and Andrus really the only two making much noise.
MOST DESERVING: Jeter. Andrus is having a nice year with a .294 batting average and 19 stolen bases, but Jeter is much more than just his solid numbers of 8 hrs, 39 RBI, .290 average and 7 stolten bases.

CATCHER

1. Joe Mauer Twins 2,617,822
2. Jorge Posada Yankees 822,865
3. Victor Martinez Red Sox 518,608
4. Taylor Teagarden Rangers 341,492
5. Gerald Laird Tigers 258,112

THE LEADERS: You had to know that Mauer would be up there. He’s one of the most important names in the MLB right now so his insurmountable lead is not surprising. Posada’s reputation with the bat has him up there despite two seperate DL stints.
MOST DESERVING: Martinez. As great as Mauer is, he’s been hurt a little and not playing at the level you’d expect for him, and despite the two grand slams this past weekend, Posada’s injuries have hampered him as well. Martinez has put up solid numbers of 8 HRs, 35 RBI and a .300 batting average with only 20 strike outs. Deserving numbers.

OUTFIELD

1. Ichiro Suzuki Mariners 1,231,950
2. Carl Crawford Rays 1,123,132
3. Nelson Cruz Rangers 1,093,099
4. Josh Hamilton Rangers 1,006,364
5. Nick Swisher Yankees 808,871
6. Curtis Granderson Yankees 766,088
7. Torii Hunter Angels 765,023
8. Brett Gardner Yankees 743,795
9. Vernon Wells Blue Jays 681,795
10. Michael Cuddyer Twins 644,679

THE LEADERS: Despite some rough starts, players like Ichiro and Hamilton have picked up their game to where most people expect them to be. Some of the names up here aren’t having the seasons you would expect like Hunter and Granderson.
MOST DESERVING: Jose Bautista, Carl Crawford and Alex Rios. Bautista’s .227 batting average is terrible, but his 18 HRs and 45 RBI is tops in the AL. Crawford is setting himself up for a heck of a free agent payday with 6 HRs, 36 RBI, 22 SBs, a .300 average and 50 runs scored (which is tops in the AL). Rios is also putting together a solid overall season with 13 HRs, 19 SBs and a .315 average with only 27 strike outs. Guys like Hamilton, Ichiro, Cruz and Swisher are all deserving, but these three stand out in my mind.

WHO SHOULD GO FROM THE YANKEES?
The Yankees are having a strong season, currently tied with the Rays for 1st place in the Al and the best record in baseball. Despite some rough performances from guys like Teixeria, A-Rod, Joba and Sabathia, the Yanks haven’t missed a beat. Brett Gardner has exceeded expectations and should get some consideration for the AL outfield, as should Nick Swisher. Cano and Jeter are locks in the voting and I would expect both Mariano Rivera and Phil Hughes to join them without much doubt, seeing they both are having great seasons. Andy Pettitte is also having a solid season and should get consideration as well. My no brainers are Jeter, Cano, Hughes and Rivera. Odds are you’ll see at least one or two from the lot of Swisher, A-Rod, Texieria and Pettite on the team as well.