Parker: Projecting Robinson Cano’s next 10 years
From SABR member Bill Parker at Pinstriped Bible on October 10, 2012:
Robinson Cano just completed his eighth regular season as a Yankee, and his third in a row as arguably the Yankees‘ best player. He’s also got just one year left on his contract, though, and so, as he works toward helping the Yankees earn their second trophy of his tenure, it’s worth asking: what should they do with him going forward?
I mean, they’re going to extend him, of course. Barring something almost entirely unforeseeable — he falls apart completely a la Andruw Jones ca. 2008, he suffers a catastrophic injury, we find out he took a banned substance or is best friends with that cancerous A-Rod — not retaining Cano would be unforgivable as a matter of public relations. More importantly, Cano’s a great player coming off his best year, so if you’re trying to win now, as the Yankees always are, you’re not going to improve your short-term chances by doing anything else with that money. So I guess the real, salient question is what to expect from him during his next contract, and for how many years Yankees fans should hope they lock him down.
The best way I can think of to approach that question is to find comparable players through history, and take a look at how they aged.
Read the full article here: http://www.pinstripedbible.com/2012/10/10/3482496/projecting-robinson-canos-next-ten-years-yankees-contract-extension
Originally published: October 10, 2012. Last Updated: October 10, 2012.