It's very easy to spent a decade with one team, and then spent the rest of your career coasting. Albert Pujols, essentially, has been doing this. Ken Griffey did this. Robinson Cano...is NOT doing this. He's still having amazing seasons, a few years removed from his numerous playoff appearances in New York. He's still one of the best 2nd basemen in baseball, he's still getting countless ASG votes, and he's still one of the better contact hitters in the game.
You can chalk it up to consistency, luck, or pure talent. Cano was ferocious as a member of the Yankees- I don't think he had a single 'bad year' while he was in the Bronx. Now he's in Seattle, and while his 2015 season was, by comparison, a disappointment, he's still cranking out great numbers without any sign of tiring. The Mariners got him in 2014 with the premise of building a team around him, and while this has taken a bit longer than they'd have liked, the 2017 squad is slowly coming along, thanks to the youth movement of Mitch Haniger and some last-minute acquisitions like Jean Segura, Danny Valencia and Yovani Gallardo.
However, the injuries are killing this squad. Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager can hit all they want- if they don't have any competent starting pitchers, it doesn't mean a thing. They need to figure out how to work around these injuries, and not completely fall apart...which is what they're coming close to doing.
With Robinson Cano on this team, they're worth more than they would be without him. He brings leadership, talent and passion to a squad that desperately needs it.
(Note: With this 62nd post in May 2017, not only do I break my own personal posts-per-month record, but I also break Roger Maris'.)
Coming Tomorrow- June. And a willing-enough rookie in a sorry-looking roster.
No comments:
Post a Comment