Robinson Cano should be a Yankee for life!

 A lot of things have happened to Robinson Cano in the four years he has been with the Yankees.  According to press reports in the New York papers and blog reports from Yankee fans, he may be on his way out of the Bronx.  That would be a shame.

After the '03 season when Alfonso Soriano was traded to Texas to get A-Rod, there was a definite hole at second.  As the Yankees struggled in the early part of '05, the brain trust did an unusual thing.  They brought up two young players from Columbus, Chien Ming-Wang as a starting pitcher and an unknown second baseman named Robinson Cano. 

No one knew alot about Cano who was only 22 when he joined the Yanks.  But he played in 132 games that year, hit .297 and drove in 62 runs.  He struck out too much.  But there was alot of talk about him bringing some new energy to the team.  And once again the Bombers made it to the playoffs, as they would do the next two years with Cano a fixture at second.

In 2006, his first year to head north with the big club out of Spring Training, Cano went on the disabled list and played in only 122 games.  But he came back from the DL on fire and ended up hitting .342 just shy of the batting crown.

In '07 he had a full year with 160 games and hit .306 and drove in 97 runs.  He still struck out too much, but no one could argue with his production in his first real full year in the majors.

He has been compared to Rod Carew at the plate.  He has incredibly soft hands with the bat and can adjust to pitches at the last minute.  But he is also strong and can spray line drives all over the field.  He has been expected to hit with a little more power than he has shown so far, but at the end of this season he was still only 25 years old.

In the field, he is so smooth he is deceptive.  His natural ability makes it look like he is dogging it a little bit more than he is, although he does dog it enough as it is.  He has very good range and a quick release with a strong arm and he is very accurate with his throws.  He pivots on the double play and releases the ball so quickly that he makes it look too easy.

He is laid back, too easy going, not enough fire in the belly to suit many of the New York fans.  On one play late in this disappointing '08 season the ball was deflected away from him and he just stood there watching it roll into right field, when he should have been running full out after the ball.  That got him in Girardi's dog house and rightfully so. 

He has too much talent to ever loaf on a play.  He has too much talent not to enjoy every single pitch of every single game.  And he now has a manager who stayed in the bigs as a player for a long time on less than average talent.  Girardi did it by hustling all the time, by sticking his nose in hard on every play he was involved in and never giving less than his full effort.

Cano probably will never do that and it is infuriating to his bosses and to those of us who manage from the Barkaloungers.  But 95% of Cano's effort is so far better than 110% of most people's efforts.  And he will mature.  He will wisen.  And he will be driven by some of the people around him.

Maybe he needs Bowa back to kick his butt every day.  Maybe the Yanks in general need Hank Bauer back to remind everybody not to mess with his paycheck as he did with the Yankees of the late 40s and early 50s.  But whatever Cano needs, the Yankees need him badly. 

But Yankee fans shouldn't be shortsighted either.  In 2008, Cano and his running buddy, Melky Cabrera, got more than their share of the blame and most of it was because they were correctly perceived as not always having their heads in the game.  But if you go back to the two previous years, Cano and Cabrera were praised by almost everyone for bringing energy to the team and showing an example that some of the millionaires in pinstripes needed to emulate.

The Yankees should leave Robbie alone and hope he stays in New York for the rest of his career. If he does we may eventually remember him as the best Yankee second baseman of all time and he may have a plaque in Cooperstown one day.