The Mariners announced Tuesday that infielder Robinson Cano has been reinstated from his 80-game suspension and added to the active roster. In a pair of corresponding moves, Seattle optioned right-hander Casey Lawrence to Triple-A Tacoma and transferred right-hander Sam Tuivailala from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Tuivailala was already known to be out for the season following surgery to repair an injured Achilles tendon.
Cano, 35, batted .287/.385/.441 with four homers and 10 doubles through 169 plate appearances before the bombshell announcement that he’d been hit with an 80-game suspension following a failed PED test. Cano was on the disabled list due to a fractured finger at the time, though that injury is well behind him given the length of his ban. In his absence, the Mariners moved Dee Gordon from center field to second base and supplemented their outfield mix with acquisitions of Denard Span and Cameron Maybin.
The plan in Seattle has been for Cano to return in a multi-position role. He’s seen some work at third base while playing on an unpaid minor league assignment to get back up to speed, and he’s also likely to see time at first base and his customary second base slot as well. The Mariners, though, have plenty of reason to continue keeping Gordon sharp at second base, though. Gordon is, after all, a markedly better defender at second base than he is in center field, making Seattle a better defensive unit when he’s playing on the infield. Beyond that, Cano will be ineligible for postseason play having been suspended, so if the Mariners are able retake the second Wild Card spot away from the surging A’s (or, more improbably, steal the division away from the two teams ahead of them), it’d be Gordon receiving all of the team’s reps at second base in the playoffs.
At the time of the news, Cano’s suspension was viewed as a potentially critical blow to a surprisingly strong start to Seattle’s season. However, in his absence, the Mariners actually have a slightly better winning percentage than they’d enjoyed with Cano on the roster and producing rather well. Whether one considers the Mariners’ success in one-run games to be a sustainable means of winning, the fact remains that they’re now firmly within striking distance of ending their playoff drought. The return of Cano should only make them a more formidable team down the stretch, even if he’ll be a nonfactor should they earn a postseason berth.
Would have been nice to have him up last night in the 9th, would have been Segura hitting instead Maybin and then Cano which may have given them the lead.
I don’t think any of the playoff spots other than Boston and Cleavland winning their divisions will be decided until the last weekend this year.
Do you actually think the A’s or Mariners are gonna run down the Yankees?
It’s not likely but both the M’s and A’s have home a home series against the Yankees in September. If either team can complete a sweep and the other gets the series win it’s possible.
If I were the Yankees I would be real scarred of the As or Seattle in a one game wild card playoff. All the momentum would be with the underdog.
A’s might run down the Astros
Come-on-man get real…
Anything is possible still in the AL West with the top 3 teams still having lots of games against each other. And New York still plays Oakland and Seattle on the road, and 6 against Boston who has won 8 of 12 against them. And I’m not sure if Boston will just give the series to New York by resting starters like they may to another team.
It’s unlikely Houston and New York lose their current spots but it’s definitely possible. If Oakland plays well against Houston I can see them taking the division, even Seattle has a chance.
It’s weird that some of these commenters seem to think there are guarantees in baseball.
8/13
Okay but does that one game change anything? Boston still has the season series.
A’s run down the Texas Rangers before. It can happen.
I’m thinking that too. They are playing great and getting gradually closer.
How do you feel now? A’s tied with Houston for 1st place!!
The best thing the Yanks have going for them is Seattle/ Houston / Oakland all play each other and will beat each other up. And that fact will probably keep the Yanks in the wild card.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yanks are the away team for the wild card.
The way Oakland is playing I think they’re going to win the West.
In all likelihood, the Yankees should be fine as one of the Wild Card teams. You can’t discount the A’s winning the Wild Card considering how hot they’ve been the past two months. Plus, the Yankees have to go out west and play the Mariners and A’s in back to back series as part of a long road trip (I think they play one more team on the road during that time). If the Mariners or A’s (or even both) take 2/3 games against the Yankees then you’re looking at a heated race down the stretch that will likely come down to the final 5-6 games of the season.
Bummer. Cano was on a HoF career path until this, Oh well. If Clemens or Schilling ever get in I’ll be really bummed about Cano.
I highly doubt that one 80-game PED suspension will affect whether or not he gets into the hall.
I am certain it will have a huge impact. Look at the trouble suspected and alleged users have had getting in. This is a definite strike against him.
Can won’t be on the ballot for at least 10 more years(that’s saying he retires at the end of his contract), who knows how steroid users will be viewed then. It seems like the voters are getting more and more okay with voting for the suspected users over the years, maybe by then they’ll be okay with guys who got suspended.
Cano*
Okay with cheaters? I’m glad I visited the hall 8 years ago.
I actually think it will be much HARDER for Cano to get in now than the “Steroids Era” crop of users, since part of the rationale for softening on some of those people is that “everyone was doing it”. The GIants just finally felt comfortable retiring Bonds’ number. His and Clemens’ votes are creeping up – I bet you they get it in year 9 or 10.
Cano won’t have that excuse – conclusively, NOT everyone is doing it.
“ . . . conclusively, NOT everyone is doing it.”
I’m curious what you base that statement on. If you are referring to the fact that most players do not fail their drug tests, while that could be persuasive evidence it is far, far from conclusive; conclusory would be more fitting. The longest non-lifetime suspension was handed out to a player who did not flunk his drug test (ARod).
“Cano won’t have that excuse . . .”
He won’t need an excuse when his contemporaries make it to the Veteran’s committee.
and why is that? some players are being kept out on speculation ALONE.
What planet have you been living on?
Clemens and Schilling (who both almost certainly used) haven’t gotten close. Bonds hasn’t gotten close. Obviously Palmeiro hasn’t gotten close. Meanwhile, Mussina, who was at least twice as good as Jack Morris, hasn’t come close to the Hall, which is nonsense.
Delete this junk…
Curt Schilling isn’t in in the hall because he can’t keep his mouth shut with regards to politics.
Schilling has never been accused of or thought to have done steroids.
Svchilling has been accused of doing steroids tons. A cursory Google search will find hundreds of hits. I don’t like that sort of accusation, but it’s there.
Randy Johnson is conservative and he got in.
Almost all baseball players are conservative. Schilling is outspoken, sure, but his bigger crime is defrauding the taxpayers of Rhode Island of tens of millions of dollars.
Schilling literally said reporters should be lynched. And who votes for the hall? Hmm, I wonder why nobody wants to vote for you…
It’s actually kind of embarrassing imo that Morris even got in. He’s definitely going to be one of the worst ever pitchers to get in
Agreed. Morris: 44 bWAR. Mussina: 85(!) bWAR.
And Hank Aaron and Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who all admitted to using PEDs in their careers, are all unquestionable Hall-of-Famers.
WTF are you talking about?
Bruh just walk away.
Uh…
Mickey drank himself silly, but that’s no PED.
God, I wish people left sources behind or actually backed up their facts.
Well, my source is books written by Mays and Aaron themselves. MLBTR doesn’t allow links, but Google is your friend. Or just read the books. Those guys used greenies; I don’t think that makes them any less of players at all, but greenies are PEDs, plain and simple.
forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2016/04/08/ron-darling…
“Mickey Mantle was forced out of part of the ’61 pennant race by an infection he got from the needle of a quack doctor who shot him up with a concoction of steroids and amphetamines.”
espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4192628
This is well known.
OK now that I’ve gathered my faculties. For someone to try and slander the legacy of two immortal players is just too low for words. The Mick might have had his off field problems, but to accuse him of using PED’s, or admitting to anything like that is totally uncalled for. You truly must have something mentally wrong with you to post that about a great a American like Hank Aaron.
Hank Aaron, Willie Nays and Mantle all admitted, in various times and sources, to using “greenies,” or amphetamines. Those are PEDs. Sorry, friend.
Sorry, *Mays. Mays and Aaron admitted in their autobiographies, that they used amphetamines, and Mantle (and most 1960s Yankees) were outed as using “greenies” in Bouton’s “Ball Four.”
Mr. ceralfamine – you may want to read Aaron’s and Mays’ autobiographies, which they both wrote, and in which both admitted using amphetamines during their playing careers.
Or google: Hank aaron and Amphetamines. Literally 50 pages of links will show up. But all you need is to look at the man’s own autobiography.
I am in the minority in that I don’t believe PEDs should be illegal nor disqualify someone from the HoF. But that’s just me.
This is unfortunate representation of how certain people are held in a particular regard, irrespective of what they’ve actually done.
These guys all admitted to (or in one case, didn’t own up but was outed) using greenies. The fact that people see these guys as heroes and part of folklore, doesn’t change that. And it’s ignorant to call it slander based purely on the fact that you don’t like hearing it.
That “Great American” Hank Aaron, did what so many other “Great American” sportspeople did – used PED’s.
For both of you and David. If you are equating amphetamines to anabolic steroids then you of both are way, way off base. Not close to being in the same class.
They are both PEDs, and both outlawed in baseball in 2018.
I frankly don’t think any of these things make players better. Anabolic steroids have been used by hundreds of players who aren’t any good – see the Mitchell Report for evidence. Amphetamines kept players on the field for a long season, but probably didn’t improve their performance in a very substantive way. But they were still PEDs, and they would still put Mantle, Mays and Aaron off the field were they using them in 2018.
Why? The effects of amphetamines are well documented, they provide a significant boost to someones performance capability.
Again, just because you don’t WANT something to be true, doesn’t mean it isn’t.
If you’re argument is based around someone being a “Great American”, you have no argument.
I think your arguing against the only guy that agrees with you, other than me(maybe not, it’s hard to tell on the app).
The teams back then had bowls of greenies out in the locker room for the players to take. They were LEGAL to use back then, so you cannot equate this to Steroids or HGH. All amphetamines do is wake you up and make you more alert. No increase in strength of healing from injuries. In fact, greenies made you crash really hard the next day.
Fun to watch Cereal have a self-righteous breakdown over this.
“Why, I…Why you-you… (gag, spew, snort) I just, just can’t even…(Gathers himself) ….How DARE you!!!!!”
Well I think that’s enough internet for today
Amen
I love it when people don’t even want to acknowledge things that are demonstrably true. It’s okay; Mays and Aaron admitting using PEDs doesn’t diminish their accomplishments in any way, shape or form. But refusing t acknowledge they did them – when the players themselves have admitted to doing them – is just complete denial
He doesn’t want an amphetamine to be a PED that’s his issue. He’s associating PED w steroids only. That’s probably common and it’s admittedly what I and most others think of when hearing it. But amphetamines were certainly a PED. Regardless of what light gets shined on them.
Can’t apply today’s knowledge and standards to something that occurred under different circumstances decades prior and wasn’t banned by MLB until 1991..
In the U.S., Amphetamines only became illegal without a prescription in 1970. It post dates Mantle, and came into effect at tail end of Aaron’s and Mays’s careers..
Steroids and amphetamines do different things.. One causes extreme and unnatural physical development, the other stimulates the Central Nervous System. Too much can have negative consequences. Players used greenies to combat fatigue.
When the Amphetamine testing became MLB rule in the early 2000’s, players turned to caffeine and energy drinks., all legal.
Can’t apply today’s knowledge and standards to something that occurred under different circumstances decades prior
Amphetamines weren’t illegal in the U.S. without prescription until 1970 and weren’t banned by MLB till 1991. Mays retired in 1973, Aaron 1976.
When testing began in the early 2000’s, players turned to caffeine and energy drinks.
Let’s say 10 years from now, caffeine and energy drinks are illegal without prescription. Would that make Jose Altuve a PED user?
Still saying he failed a PED test when he in fact did not fail a PED test. He failed a banned substance test and there is the difference. Still doesn’t mean I’m any less pissed about it. I expect “boos” to be rained down on him for the remainder of the season, and if I attend a game I’ll join in even though he’s on my team.
In that case they should also boo Dee Gordon, and Nelson Cruz, right? Extremely disrespectful to boo him.
No it’s not it’s a fans reaction to the players failure as a teammate and professional. Regardless of how the team performed in his absence the M’s were better off with him in the lineup. If Robinson wasn’t masking a PED and was in fact being treated for something with the diuretic then he needs to speak up about it. Therefore I will boo him. I don’t condone PED use by anyone and I won’t endorse him being in the hall as a fan until he speaks up about what he was really doing. Robinson has disrespected the game of baseball, his teammates, and baseball fans. I expect the booing to stop after this season and people will move on much as they have with Cruz and Gordon.
Gordon and Cruz got suspended but not for 80 games in the middle of Seattle’s postseason run. Both were with different teams. I can understand the Boo’s. He deserved them. That’s just human nature. How many people really cared that he did them? Not all the people booing for sure but it hurt the mariners season.
Cano :
Idiot.
Needed nothing extra at all.
Idiot.
(an extremely rich idiot; I may add)
Unless you think he’s been on these for a long time.
One nice thing for the Mariners: Cano can’t play the “veteran star due respect” card to keep from being moved off 2B anymore. He is, quite rightly, saying he’ll play wherever they want him to now. You lose some less-talked-about stuff when you pull PED crap.
He’s graded out as a positive defender at 2nd for essentially his whole career so he still has that argument.
Was Robinson Cano found guilty of using PEDs? I thought it was a banned diuretic (water pill). I’m asking because I don’t know.
Time for Canseco to write “Juice III” it might be a hit as many players are being suspended nowadays on PED’s…
Unless my memory has failed me, Cano was suspended for having a substance in his system that is commonly used to mask PED use. Doesn’t mean he used PED’s, just means he used something that would mask their use. Whether he used or not, having that drug in his system makes him guilty in the eyes of MLB, and rightly so. If he used PED’s and then the masking agent, he’s guilty. If he knowingly took the masking agent, not knowing it was banned, he’s just stupid and deserved whatever he got. In this day and age a player should not take anything beyond a childrens aspirin, and NEVER get an injection of any kind without written permission from MLB. If I made 10 or 20 mil a year I would follow every rule and do whatever was asked of me whether it seemed fair or not. It’s little to ask for making a lifetimes worth of money to play a game for one year.