Mailbag: Lopez, Colon, Cano

Seems silly that the Yankees would try to use Cano's strong 9 games in some scrub winterleague to promote his value when everybody knows he is one of the best handful of second baseman in baseball anyway and he is only in his early 20's.

You seriously think the Twins would hold up a deal involving Cano just because Hughes wasn't in it? Cano's more expensive than some of the other guys discussed, but still substantially less so than Santana, which is the point. Plus he doesn't get really expensive until the new stadium's in place.

It'd be pretty easy to make a deal without Hughes that the Twins would be idiots not to jump at, if Cano could be part of it.

Im sorry, was that english?

...except Hughes is a PROSPECT, while Cano is proven. As much as you want to value Hughes' potential, Cano is the more valuable player in the here and now. While the monetary issue could come into play in a few years, Cano is worth more to any club over the next four years, as of right now, than Phil Hughes is.

"Robinson Cano is definately the sure thing, as he has proven that he'll probably challenge Chase Utley for MLB's best 2b starting next season"

Upton, Roberts, Pedroia

It will be tough for Cano to be the best 2B in his division, yet alone baseball.

Just going off 2007, Pedroia seems destined to be one of those guys who looks much better on the surface than he really is.

Overall slashes: .317/.380/.442

Nice average, decent walk rate, blah power. Still, not bad at 2B, especially at his age. But ...

Home slashes: .351/.410/.502

Which means ...

Away slashes: .282/.349/.380

Lucky for him, Fenway should be a constant aid for quite a few years.

Pedrioa career 101 ops+.

Cano career 117 ops+.

how about 2007.

wanna go VORP? Cano wins there.

How bout WARP? Cano wins there too.

Maybe Win Shares? Cano wins there too.

Cano's just one year older, a lefty, and plays better D. until Pedroia can do anything on the road, give it a rest.

"and plays better D."

Is that even remotely true?

Upton isnt a second baseman anymore, isnt he playing CF these days? Roberts might be better overall but not for long, Cano will overtake him soon, and comparing Pedroia and Cano is a joke. Cano is already much better and has a much higher ceiling. Pedroia doesnt have much power, doesnt have much speed, is a decent fielder and hits a lot of singles. Nice player, especially for 2B, but Cano is much better.

"Cano is worth more to any club over the next four years, as of right now, than Phil Hughes is. "

I dont think so. I think if given a choice between the two Boston, Baltimore, Cincinati, Philly, Atlanta, and lots of other teams with solid 2B would take Hughes in a split second.

"first off roberts plays in a little bandbox of a home ballpark, and so does pedroia. and neither of them have more homeruns than cano."

Fenway is one of the hardest parks to hit homeruns in, in all of baseball.

"i cant believe some people are comparing cano to brian roberts and pedroia-"

Yeah what a bunch of idiots comparing 3 pretty good 2b who all play in the AL East, its just flat out ridiculous.

If we compare rookie years for all of them we have.

Cano: avg/obp/ slg/ops/BABIP/
.297 .320 .458 .778 .318
with an ops+ of 106.

Had above average range defensively but his fundamentals were off and he screwed a bunch of throws and misplayed a lot of balls he got to. Stole 1 base was caught 3 times. With the added pressure of being a 22 year old breaking into the NY spotlight, on a team full of veterans in a playoff hunt. Handled himself spectactularly.

Pedroia:
avg/ obp/ slg/ ops/ BABIP
.317 .380 .442 .823 .333

with an OPS+ 112.

Had average, to a tick below average range, but with sure hands and an accurate arm. Probably got saved a bit by the ridiculous play of Youkilis at first. Stole 7 bases was caught once.

Started the year with a god awful March and April with the talking heads questioning if he had the ability to play in the majors and demanding Alex Cora start over him. Went blitzkrieg in May to silence the critics and played the final two months with a broken hand while destroying in the playoffs. More walks than strikeouts, 2nd in the league in at bats per strikeout. Kinda good.

Looking at Roberts rookie numbers this is kind of pointless now, bad hitter, bad fielder. checking his stats outside of '05 his age 27 season when he had a big leap in performance(draw your own conclusions. Pedroia and Cano are better players than him already. He's probably faster on his worst day than both of them on their best.

"if you want to debate that park factor are unjust, it probably a even weaker case for Pedroia because..."

My point was that it just makes sense that players would hit better at home, unless you play in an extreme pitchers park. Fenway was a 111 for hitters this year a big jump for its multiyear average.

actually in a study fenway park is the 6th best hitters ballpark in the majors and camden yards is right behind that at number 7..
pedroia at home-.351, 5 hrs, 32 RBIs, 25 doubles
pedroia on the road- .282, 3 hrs,18 rbis ,14 doubles
and its not just pedroia
lowell home- .373, 14 hrs, 73 rbis
lowell away- .276 7 hrs, 47 rbis

the top second baseman in baseball are here ill end with pedroia:
Chase Utley
Robinson Cano
Brandon Phillips
Dan Uggla
Brian Roberts
Kelly Johnson
Ian Kinsler
Rickie Weeks
Jeff Kent
Orlando Hudson
Dustin Pedroia

why do you have brandon phillips rated below pedroia? he hit .288 with 30 hrs, 94 rbis and 32 steals..and ops isnt everything here...
orlando hudson has as much upside as pedroia offensively with much better defense.. uggla hit thirty one homers im a little bias towards him because of his power in a huge ballpark
yeah i forgot momentarily about roberts and his roid use..my fault on that
so it would be
utley
cano
phillips
kent
johnson
uggla
hudson
pedroia
kinsler(i like him better but ill give u the benefit of the doubt on his contact and fielding)
weeks(eh his contact isnt very good but he has flashy defense and speed)
i do admit that pedroia is a good second baseman dont forget that but hes not in the upper class like cano, utley, kent and phillips hes in between the upper and middle class of second baseman
i was a little wrong putting pedroia so low on the order
but u have to admit fenway and camden yards are clearly hitters ballparks

i think every team if you exclude pedroias age would take kent over pedroia
kent-AVG .302 | HR 20 | RBI 79 | OBP .375 | SLG .500
pedroia- AVG .317 | HR 8 | RBI 50 | OBP .380 | SLG .442
and to discredit you right there uggla made only 11 errors at second base this year
orlando hudson made 10 and he won the gold glove
not to mention uggla played thirty more games
the thing you said "leaning heavily on last years stats" for phillips doesnt make sense- your doing exactly the same thing for pedroia cuz hes an unproven rookie
and btw rickie weeks had his best year defensively this year made only 13 errors in 115 games
perhaps you dont know what "flashy" means
heres how hudson is better- speed, better defense, more power, more patience (70 walks)- pedroia only has contact over hudson
heres how kelly johnson is better than pedroia- power, speed, 79 walks
Pedroia- defense and contact
and FYI i would take last years brandon phillips over pedroia anyday
i think pedroia is highly overrated because the red sox won the world series
other than that hes comparable to a david eckstein except from what weve seen he makes more contact but eckstein has the better defense

Do you really measure defense by total errors? If you do that explains a lot.

"and to discredit you right there uggla made only 11 errors at second base this year
orlando hudson made 10 and he won the gold glove
not to mention uggla played thirty more games"

Yeah, you really got me. Actually this is probably one of the worst most convoluted arguments I have ever seen. Look up any sort of defensive metric taking into account range etc and you will see why Uggla and Weeks are considered bad defenders. I will assume "flashy" means I watched a game or two and he made a good play so I assumed he was a good defender.

Jeff Kent is also in the bottom section of fielders and excluding his age seems like a massive oversight since he is 39.

"FYI i would take last years brandon phillips over pedroia anyday." I understand that argument but look at the rest of his career. He is far from a sure thing.

I think unproven rookie means they have not done it at the big league level which would not apply to Pedroia. Once he has actually played a few more seasons then we can judge them.

With Hudson looking at the numbers all I see him clearly being better in is defense.

With Kelly Johnson yes he will probably have better power but I am doubtful on the more speed and the difference between the two is probably opinion on the type of hitter you want at second base, ie not clearly better.

"i think pedroia is highly overrated because the red sox won the world series
other than that hes comparable to a david eckstein except from what weve seen he makes more contact but eckstein has the better defense"

I was willing to let everything else go, now I hope something horrible happens to you.

Dan Uggla is a terrible 2nd baseman, is four years older, and got out hit by Pedroia but please keep saying he's better.

agreed
i did cherry pick my stats
and i did base it largely on my opinion
so lets just leave this topic alone and perhaps we can reopen it when next season is over or at the all-star break

and you could sub Johnson or Hudson for Uggla...I think they are all around the same value to a team, just depends on if you value power, defense, or what kind of player you are looking for.