A suggestion came up this weekend that the Mets consider peddling away Robinson Cano based upon his solid 2020 season and the fact his financial obligation lasts another three years. At first I was reading it as bitter disappointment with the trade that brought him here, but the more I thought about it, I started to realize that this move would open up both payroll and position opportunity for other players.
At first the natural thought would be for Jeff McNeil to reclaim his previous hold on the second base job. That's not a bad idea since he's obviously not only an adept hitter but also a solid fielder between whomever is at first base and whomever is at shortstop. For 2020 McNeil was off to a slow start but finished the year at .311 (which fell below the .316 delivered by Cano). His power was off at just 4 HRs to the 10 provided by Cano. However, look at his WAR at 1.3 to the 0.9 from Cano who was earning almost 48 times the salary.
The next thought would come from how to resolve the middle infield glut with rookie Andres Gimenez turning in a fine debut and Amed Rosario doing far less than most had become accustomed to expecting. Gimenez was obviously solid with his glove no matter where you put him. Rosario was a bit less than what folks hoped was an ongoing growth with his bat. His glove was not outstanding. Gimenez earned a full 1.0 WAR whereas Rosario was registering a paltry -0.1 on the same metric. Would it make sense to keep one at 2B and one at SS while McNeil played at his formerly natural position of 3B or in the outfield?
Speaking of 3B, what happens there? J.D. Davis had quite a big drop off from his highly impressive 2019 season with the bat, plus his glove is not exactly of the gold variety. His offense had dropped off considerably and his questionable defense contributed to a -0.2 WAR rating. Is he destined to be an outfielder, a 3rd baseman, a DH in the AL or a reserve player? He may be at the top of the trade list given the performance in 2019 and then 2020 by left handed hitting Dom Smith.
One thing no one wants to see is more of Todd Frazier getting ABs for the Mets. They let him go once, then foolishly acquiesced to a reunion and he delivered a .236 batting average and a 0.1 WAR. In other words, he's not even earning the salary he's paid for that horrific output.
So coming back to the original point, should the Mets look to relieve themselves of even more salary, even if the return was relatively minor? Remember that the time to sell is when the numbers are good and Robinson Cano might indeed be attractive to a team just itching to take the next step forward with a solid career hitter like the former Yankee and Mariner. Few in Queens would shed tears if he left and many might think the move would set them up better for the future.
5 comments:
Completely agree.
Any 26-34 roster cannot stand pat, and offense is where the chips are. Start dealing, fellas.
On this team, JD Davis is fortunate to be a righty bat. He slumped badly as the short season progressed, and his clutch hitting was not clutch. If he were lefty, he'd be much more likely to be gone.
Cano at his age would be a gamble for any team to acquire. You never know if he'll be the next Robbie Alomar or Nelson Cruz in that regard. The Mets would have to eat half his remaining salary IF there was a buyer.
McNeil did nothing worse than have a slump. Any slump leaves little time to repair numbers, in his case power numbers. But he was coming on at the end. He has to stay.
For the Mets to get rid of Cano, they will have to eat most, if not all his salary. It would have to be to an American League so he can DH (if the NL does not adopt it), and Cano has a complete no-trade clause. He would want the East Coast so that will cut down your options - and once a team understands that Cano will only agree to a trade to them, not sure how much they will offer.
It's like when Cano agreed to a trade to the Mets - and the Mets still offered up prospects so they could dump salaries like Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak and get Edwin Diaz.
It was a bad trade then, worse now and growing worse the next three years left on the contract.
Want to get rid of Cano? I am afraid that you are going to have to release him.
Disagree, John.
Cano's projected at bats, if tripled this year, work out to 513 ABs (still under a full season), 30 HRs, 90 RBIs .316. Nelson Cruz is 2 1/2 years older and still getting $14 million a year. I think Cano's final 3 years would be worth at least $25 million to some team that needs hitting and a guy who could DH, play 2nd or 3rd, and hits lefty. Remember, many teams hit poorly this year. If I am a GM of a weak hitting team and I could get him for a salary of $8 million a year, I'd strongly consider it.
One thing that we are quick to forget is that Cano is in amazing shape for any age & he’s a practicing machine so aging will probably be more like a Nelson Cruz- excellent comp, Reese. IF The team was going to trade him this would be the only off-season where they would get something of value in return. I believe they would have to eat half of the contract in order to get something of value but that is probably doable if that is the way they want to go.
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