Me personally, I go with option B and I go for a guy like Dontrelle Willis using a package surrounding Cano as bait. Listen, I know Cano is good and I like him but we're talking about the D-Train here. You gotta give to get. Thought long and hard about this and I've been taking a lot of heat from my boys about dangling Cano out there to bring back a pime-time pitcher but my question is, when you get right down to it, what is Cano exactly?
(1) Is he a top of the order guy, 1-2 in the order? No. He's not patient at all, not a guy that's ever gonna work the count, hit to the opposite field to move a runner or lay down an important bunt, and he's really kinda on the slow side for a young player.
(2) Is he a guy you want protecting say an A-Rod or Giambi at around 5th in the order? Not exactly. He can hit but I don't think he's ever gonna be that bigtime power threat (even as a lefty with the short porch at home - though I do think he can be a 40+ double type-guy) and Torre knows it, evident by still keeping Cano in the lower part of the order despite the loses of Sheff and Matsui.
So what is he? He's trade bait, that's what. But only for a YOUNG & HEALTHY FRONTLINE PITCHER. He's a guy that's a .280/.290 hitter with some gap power and a pretty damn smooth looking fielder to be fair (he's a better fielder than I first thought to be honest). Again I like him a lot. He's probably gonna make the all-star team and rightly so. But for me, I'm glad he's playing well. Glad Melky's playing well too for that matter (though he's hit the wall a little bit of late). The time is right to include these guys in a trade. Their stock is high right now. There might be a time when we might never be able to get even a bag of rocks for guys like Cano and Melky Cabrera, bottom line. For me Cano's replaceable. There will always be a guy like a Rafael Furcal on the market and the Yankees have deep pockets. Plus, we have decent low-level prospects like CJ Henry or Marcos Vechionacci who might be ready to take over 2B in a few years. Until then, if we deal Cano, Cairo takes over. All he did was hit .290 as an everday second baseman a couple of years ago for us. I love Cairo and I'm glad he's back with us. So I wouldn't exactly cry my eyes out if we dealt Cano for a big pitcher...
There's no way I'm dealing an established pitcher for another pitcher, so forget dealing Wang. Or even Hughes for that matter. Get back to building it around pitching. Young pitching. The rest will take care of itself. Dontrelle Willis is having a bad year, and who knows why. It's gotta be hard as hell coming to the ballpark every day when Florida had their big fire sale of all their good players before the season even began. They basically threw all there players on the front lawn with price tags like a friggin yard sale. Maybe that's it. Maybe it's really hard for Willis to get up for these games. He's knows they're gonna deal him. Or maybe he's got some bigtime mechanic problems that they just don't care to fix (why try to straighten him out when they have no intention of resigning him? Why straighten him out for another team?). Who knows. I look at him as a 24-year-old LEFTHANDER AT YANKEE STADIUM who can win 150-200 games over the next 10 years for us! And for me that's worth dealing a still unknown quantity in Cano.
Only problem with all this D-Train stuff is Cano's gonna want a nice contract also, especially if he finishes the year over .300 and we all know Florida doesn't want to pay anyone; they've turned into the Montreal Expos for God's sake. Plus, the Marlins current 2nd baseman doesn't look too shabby: some guy named Dan Uggla is hitting .313 with 13 dingers.
No problem. If we get the D-Train, we get him. If not, chin up, and go get a Bigtime pitcher Cashman! Imagine the score tied 2-2 bottom 7. Willis against Big Papi. Man I would love to see that.
Finally, is it me or can no one else believe we didn't show any interest in Scott Sauerbeck who was just released?!? What the hell. I know he was just in a little bit of trouble of late but come on... With all of our bullpen woes of late, he could've helped bigtime! Much better option then Villone. Whatever... What about that guy Mike Holtz? Formerly with the Angels, he was with Boston earlier this year but I think they released him. Again, a lefty that throws hard enough with a good curveball. Another good option and better than Villone. It's all about the pitching I tell ya!!!!!
6/21/2006 11:51 AM