With the season on the brink of extinction and with one eye focused on next spring, there’s a lot of ground to cover in Yankeeland. What’s wrong with Robinson Cano? What’s right with Xavier Nady? And why do the Yankees have the most fragile young pitchers? Here’s a smattering of opinions coming from Cooperstown:
*Robinson Cano might not be the biggest individual disappointment in major league baseball this year, but he has to rank among the top five failures. On Wednesday afternoon, he hit rock bottom. Cano went hitless at the plate and committed three mental mistakes in the field as the Yankees fell to the Twins, 4-2, to close out a miserable 3-and-7 road trip. Without those mistakes, the outcome of the road trip finale could have been different.
The Yankees envisioned Cano having a breakout season in 2008, hitting .315-plus with power and playing Gold Glove defense at second base. Instead, they’ve watched Cano sink to his lowest major league levels, as he struggles to hit .265, shows no additional patience at the plate, and waltzes around the infield, playing the position without passion or hustle. The regression is so stunning that I have to believe Cano misses the influence of Larry Bowa, the Yankees’ former third base and infield coach. Bowa, with his relentlessly aggressive style, had a way of lighting a fuse under Cano; without Bowa, Cano plays too often as if he is sleepwalking.
In 2008, the Yankees have shown many deficiencies—a lack of hitting, no bench strength, inconsistent starting pitching, and too much age. They’ll need to fix at least some of those areas over the winter. They’ll also need to address the mindset of Cano. Perhaps they’ll have to find a coach who can do what Bowa once did, in addition to the other duties assigned to him. Or maybe they’ll have to threaten Cano’s playing time by using Wilson Betemit in an expanded role. If Cano continues to play more and more like Horace Clarke, and less like Rod Carew, the Yankees may again find themselves in third place—or worse—in 2009…
*I’m just thinking out loud on this one, but should batting coach Kevin Long be held accountable for the Yankees’ season-long struggles on offense? Injuries have been a factor, but so has a lack of patience, along with a ridiculous inability to hit with runners in scoring position. Too often the approach at the plate has looked all wrong. If the Yankees do make a change, I’d nominate Butch Wynegar, who is currently the batting coach at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Wynegar, who played for the Yankees from 1982 to 1985, was always a patient hitter who worked counts in his favor. On the surface, he seems to be doing good work in Scranton, where Justin Christian, Brett Gardner, and Juan Miranda have prospered under his tutelage…
*In terms of in-season trades, Damaso Marte has been a flop and Ivan Rodriguez has been inconsequential, but Xavier Nady has done everything that could be expected from a mid-season pickup trying to learn a new set of opposing pitchers. Is there any doubt that Nady will be the Opening Day right fielder in 2009, in the process making it that much easier to part with the declining Bobby Abreu? Five years younger and more reliable defensively, Nady also offers versatility—the ability to fill in at first base and even third base, along with the outfield corners. Abreu still manages to reach base at a competent clip, but his power is waning and his defensive play has slipped from annoying to unforgivable. I’ve never seen an outfielder with such an innate fear of the outfield wall, even the padded variety; he’s really become the anti-Pete Reiser. He’s also tentative coming in on fly balls, as if he’s afraid he’ll collide with one of his infielders. Maybe Abreu should pull a page out of the late Cesar Tovar’s playbook and carry a whistle around his neck. That way he can warn his infielders that he’s charging hard on a blooper to short right. No matter, Abreu will become someone else’s concern in 2009. He might be a good fit with the Cubs, thought I’d hate to think about his fears of the brick wall and the ivy at Wrigley Field…
*Earlier this season, we all tripped over ourselves trying to come up with catchy nicknames for the prized pitching triumvirate of Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy. Unfortunately, Michael Kay’s banal and uninspired "Generation Trey" seemed to win most of the public support. Well, I’ve got one now. How about the "Tissue Paper Triplets?" These three, who were all counted on to play major roles in 2008, have had all the durability of cheap facial handkerchiefs this summer. With Chamberlain now on the 15-day disabled list with rotator cuff tendinitis, all three pitchers have spent time on the shelf. Hughes (fractured rib) is currently trying to work his way back on a minor league assignment, while Kennedy (lat strain) has already made a disastrous one-start return that had him deluding himself ala Esteban Loiaza. (Like Kennedy, Loiaza always seemed to think his starts went pretty well. I guess his 8.50 ERA in pinstripes was deceivingly high.) In the meantime, Chamberlain has started throwing again amidst hopes that he might be able to contribute during the final five to six weeks of the season.
If anybody suggests that any of these three prized right-handers has even been slightly overworked, I will reach for the nearest airsick bag. Chamberlain, who has been treated with the softest of kid gloves, has thrown a high of 114 pitches this season after being gradually moved from relief to the rotation. Hughes and Kennedy have also been on strict pitch counts during their first two major league seasons. What’s the lesson here? Not even the most severe of pitch count limits can protect pitchers from doing what they’ve always done—and that’s getting hurt…
*Speaking of Hughes, reports from his last start at Triple-A Scranton indicate he’s just about ready for recall. At its best, Hughes’ fastball approached 100 miles per hour; he also threw his cutter and curve ball effectively. Let’s assume the radar gun used on Hughes was about three miles fast. That still puts him at about 95-96 miles per hour, which is better than the 93 he seemed to top out at during most of his early-season starts. He’s also wearing glasses, which should help him see the signals from Ivan Rodriguez and Jose Molina, eliminating a problem that he endured during the early season. Just like Cano, Hughes will be an important part of the solution in 2009—or else.
Bruce Markusen writes "Cooperstown Confidential" for MLB.com and lives in Cooperstown, along with about 2,200 other folks.
