Cano’s struggles help exlpain Seattle Mariners uninspiring start
What is relevant here is that the Seattle Mariners — a team many analysts took to win the AL West this year — are not winning more games than they are losing. Instead, the young and strikeout ridden Astros are atop the division and the M’s are back in third place with a 16-19 record. The pitching has been pretty good again in 2015 and Nelson Cruz has been amazing, so what’s the issue?
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Plain and simple, the weak link has been Robinson Cano. At a $24 million base salary this year, the second baseman commands 20.8 percent of the Mariners’ payroll. So too does Felix Hernandez, but he’s 6-0 with a 1.85 ERA and a WAR of 2.2. Cano, meanwhile, is showing Seattle for a second year that he cannot hit home runs at Safeco Park, or in a Mariners uniform altogether.
Cano got the protection of a powerful right-handed bat he so badly needed hitting behind him in the lineup after the Mariners inked Cruz. So what’s the problem this year? Last season, Cano had one home run and 19 RBI through his first 35 games and was slashing .288/.342/.367. This year, again he has only one home run through the same amount of games. But the 11 RBI and a lower slash line of .268/.309/.373 is insubstantial with Cruz doing so well as a threat behind him.
Mariners fans accepted pretty early on last season that combined with a new home park and being longer in the tooth, Cano’s days of belting 25-plus home runs in a season were behind him. He finished with only 14 last season and right now is on pace for around the same amount. He’s 32 and with another eight years left on this gargantuan contract, what can the M’s expect his power numbers to be like when he’s 35? Or even worse, when he’s 40 and making the same robust base salary?
A slow start is one thing. They happen all of the time in baseball, even by perennial All-Stars. Andrew McCutchen is experiencing one right now, but at least he has gone deep four times and has 22 RBI. This is Cano’s second slow start in consecutive years with the Mariners. He is far and away their most expensive position player and the club paid what they did for him because he is a career .309 hitter who gets on base. Those numbers will hopefully cinch closer to his lifetime marks in the coming weeks, but with a salary as large as his, when the power numbers drop off that significantly, amends need to be made in other areas.
There are nine Mariners with more home runs than Cano this season. The only significant hitting categories where Cano leads all his teammates are in doubles with 12. His OPS of .682 is borderline pitiful for a player of his caliber and he’s a distant fifth on the team when it comes to working the count for free passes. He is ranked seventh on the team in overall WAR with a 0.6 mark, putting him behind a relief pitcher (Carson Smith), the No. 5 starter (J.A. Happ) and just ahead of the No. 4 starter in the rotation (Roenis Elias).
The pocketbook has been kind to Cano in his second season outside of pinstripes, but the production has not been. Last season, his ratio numbers at the plate were on par with those same ones in his final year as a Yankee, but his counting power numbers took a big hit. This season, he’s struggling in both areas and in only the second year of a decade long $240 million deal, the last thing management or fans want to see is consistent regression.
The team has the 13th best ERA in the league and third best team ERA in the division at a respectable 3.96. Cano has hit exclusively out of the three hole this season in all 35 Mariners games. While Seattle’s leadoff man hasn’t been very stout this season, their No. 2 hitter has manufactured a .327 OBP with 10 doubles, two triples and five stolen bases this season. That spot alone in the batting order has provided Cano with 17 RISP opportunities. He’s a career .284 hitter with RISP, but this season Cano is hitting only .200 in those very same situations.
The Seattle Mariners need MVP caliber production out of their MVP salaried players. Right now King Felix is giving them that. If the Mariners want to snap their playoff drought dating back to 2001, Robinson Cano needs to be better. Much better.