Comments on: Can Cano Turn It Around?

By: Leftylarry

Leftylarry — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:39:37 +0000

i think Cano will have a huge season.His problem was he and Melky were immature clowns who were more worried about their super secret jumping, bumping handshakes than their crafts.
Both seem to have smartened up.
Cano has plenty of talent and should hit 20+ HR.’s

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:39:36 +0000

Thanks. This one has been rolling around my head for months.

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:27:20 +0000

Great write-up, Moshe!

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:00:54 +0000

Just to provide some more explanation, this is a comment I posted on this at RAB.I think the answer to your question as to why this didn’t happen before is probably what AD said above. According to Long, Cano had so many moving parts in his swing that they knew the time would come when it would need to be revamped. By closing his stance up, they essentially try to keep him square with the plate at all times (rather than facing the pitcher), which hopefully should cut down on the amount of movement. Why specifically the breakdown came last year is harder to explain, but it probably has to due with his slow start resulting in him trying to do too much and pull everything. Once pitchers realized Robbie was going to swing at every FB near the zone and try to pull it, they began throwing everything on the outer half, and Cano could not adjust. As things got worse, his swing got further pull happy, giving Long the excuse to start from scratch.

By: Hoping for a major rebound from Cano | River Avenue Blues

Hoping for a major rebound from Cano | River Avenue Blues — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:30:59 +0000

[...] Moshe Mandel of The Yankee Universe took an in-depth look at Cano from both a statistical and scouting point of view. On the scouting [...]

By: Tom Gaffney

Tom Gaffney — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:52:05 +0000

Cool article, Moshe. It’s good to see statistics backing up what most of us thought all along. Robbie has a great swing that is a gift from the gods, but his mental approach is a work in progress as befits a player of his age.

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:39:57 +0000

I agree- pitchers started to throw him away more, he couldn’t lay off it, started trying to do to much and pull it, a voila, his swing is messed up.

By: oldpep

oldpep — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:38:14 +0000

I think Cano had some things go wrong and then everything started to snowball. His frustration mounted, his attitude suffered, and he had a hard time righting the ship.
I think this is what Girardi is referring to when he says he’s going to take a different approach to managing Cano.
Still, if he doesn’t learn the strike zone, pitchers will continue to develop strategies to take advantage of that, quite possibly resulting in more long slumps.

By: Moshe Mandel

Moshe Mandel — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:00:48 +0000

I think that you need to give Pedroia his due right now. he had an excellent season.

By: Ace II

Ace II — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:53:19 +0000

If the changes work as planned, where would you say Cano is a top five player? I personally think he is second only to chase utley when he is playing right.