The Sommer Frieze

Hitting coach Kevin Long went to the Dominican Republic, and according to King, George A. III, he and the rest of the Yanks are “jazzed about Robbie Cano’s new body.”

Our friend Josh “The Yankee Truth” always wants hungry players and not fat cats, but according to King’s article, he won’t have to worry about Cano being fat. Long says that Cano, who was a major disappointment last year (.271-14-72, OPS+ just 86 after two consecutive years of .300 or better with OPS’s of 120 or better) has hired a personal trainer and looks great. Maybe after the four-year deal he got Cano became a dreaded “fatcat” but after the year he had, he appears to have the vengeance of a woman scorned. Hopefully in 2009 he’ll show that hunger that the “Truth” loves.

Cano is DHing in the Dominican Winter League in order to refine the stance he finished the season with. King states that Long, while in the D.R., worked also with Cano’s head. Like we were harping on all season, Long wants more plate discipline. One very revealing phrase in Long’s statement could be the Yanks’ future plans for Cano. Long states (bold emphasis mine): “If he is going to be a 3rd or 5th place hitter, which we need him to be, he has to learn about the strike zone and taking a lot more often than not.” King states that only 11 players with the number of ABs or more than Cano had had fewer walks this past season than Robbie did (26).

A new development could be lurking. Checking King’s column, he states a focus that wasn’t mentioned before, and it isn’t the blurb on Teixeira. It’s the one on Orlando Hudson, and not for 2B. The sentence “a second baseman they believe could play CF.” Hmmm….I don’t know about that. There is no question that Hudson (career OPS+ of 99, just a tick below average, but 102, 106 and 108 the past three years) right now is a better hitter than Melky or Gardner, not as fast as Gardner (who is?) but why take a 3x Gold Glove winning 2B and move him to CF? I’m not sold on that, especially when I remember the last 2B (bumped by, ironically, Cano) that the Yanks tried to move to CF. You remember the disaster that was Tony Womack, don’t you?

I just hope that it’s not too much muscle-mass for Robbie. I’ll never forget Tony Kubek, in talking about “bulked up” players (before we realized how they got that way) stating that in baseball, it’s about flexibility, not bulk or mass. You don’t want Robbie (or others) muscle-bound.

Pete Abraham states that the Yanks are banking on comebacks, and not just from Cano. Posada and Matsui come immediately to mind. Maybe Alex and Jeter, even though neither Alex or Jeter had what you would call a terrible year. .302-35-103-OPS+ 150 by Alex (and 3 weeks missed) isn’t bad at all, but the RISP…well. Something between 2007 and 2008 would yield 44 HR, 130 RBI, and that would be close to 2005, when A-Rod was the MVP. Jeter did hit .300, but was in the .280s for a while. The OPS+ of 102 was lower than his usual 120, mostly because the SA was 50 points below average. There is one thing though. Cano is 26 so counting on him to bounce back is one thing. I am a bit worried about the others though. A-Rod and Jeter didn’t have offseason surgery, but will turn 34 and 35 respectively in the summer of ‘09. Worse yet, Matsui turns 35 and Posada 38 next summer and both of those guys ARE coming off surgeries and counted on by the Yanks to bounce back. Will they?

After my post of yesterday, today’s Page Six cartoon in the Post is so appropriate, even if you can’t see the whole thing:

An article in the Post states what the average ticket prices are for the exhibitions and stadium openers for the New Yankee Stadium and for Citi Field.

Yanks: Exhibition vs. Cubs. Average $152. Asking $118 to $3549. Average for Opening Day: $491.

Mets: Exhibition vs. Boston. Average $52. Asking $45 to $353. Average for Opening Day: $304.

According to the Post, others are now stepping up to the plate regarding C.C. and A.J.