I know nobody wants to talk about this but.....

[jango2000]

I just imagined what 4th place looks like.

You're ever the optimist, slick1.

[Porka]

I forgot how to start a thread and so I'm asking some young stud (ne of you) to do so...
Today's River Avenue Blues site has a great piece about Manny Ramirez.
I had forgotten all about Manny but apparently, he's tearing it up in Winter Ball.
Normally, I'd be sceptical, but with the Yanks needing a bat, and with Manny's offensive ability, we could capture lightning in a bottle. Clearly, we are all aware of the risks, but at this point, 3 weeks before pitch and catch, why not. Manny is from NY so maybe there would be a persoanl pride at stake. It would also really be his LAST CHANCE, so maybe he would absolutely kill it. Let's take a shot!

[Porka]

One more thought...if there is any club more able to handle Manny, its the Yanks. Veterans with work ethic all over our lineup. Surely, they can help Manny fly right.

[RCSownsU]

^^ Dude why do you post about MANNY in every thread? Seriously?

[Pinstripe power]

**** manny

[Webslinger]

Robinson Cano is essentially Michael Young with more power. Michael Young is now 35 and his days as an offensive threat are pretty much over. If Cano gets an 8-10 year contract from us it'll be the biggest joke on this franchise since the resigning of Arod.

[Jesse2272]

Manny is massaging old grannies in a spa somewhere

living that good life

[theslick1]

Robinson Cano is essentially Michael Young with more power. Michael Young is now 35 and his days as an offensive threat are pretty much over. If Cano gets an 8-10 year contract from us it'll be the biggest joke on this franchise since the resigning of Arod.

I agree on not giving him 8-10 years, but Cano is WAY better than Michael Young. Not a good comparison. He's more comparable to Chase Utley.

[RCSownsU]

For something with a title..something nobody wants to talk about, it's made 6 pages. I guess people DID want too talk about it.

SWIDT?

[TallicaFan87]

For something with a title..something nobody wants to talk about, it's made 6 pages. I guess people DID want too talk about it.

SWIDT?

Not to mention almost every thread on the board somehow makes it way back to Cano and his future with the Yankees.

[ciaban]

not really. theres plenty of deals you wouldn't expect to happent that have

of course there are, but i don't see anyone giving him 10 years except maybe the yankees.

[sauronthepower]

I would rather give Robbie more money over less years than get conned into another monster long term deal that hamstrings us for the long run.

To get him at 4-5 as opposed to 6-9 years you're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 million annually guaranteed.

[sauronthepower]

The issue is that posters on this forum want to see a fundamental change in the financial calculus of baseball teams; this off-season and last should be testament to the unchanging reality of large multi-year contracts.

Teams prioritize lower AAV over contract length and that is not changing any time soon.

Over the last three years (2010-2012) Robinson Cano has accumulated 20.1 fWAR. That ties him with Joey Votto for second and places him exactly 0.5 fWAR behind Miguel Cabrera.

Removing Cano from this line-up is tantamount to declaring a multi-year rebuilding process in which the Yankees battle with the Red Sox for Third and Fourth place while the Rays and Jays become the dominant force in the AL East.

Have we not learned the lesson of un-tested prospects yet?
I am still waiting for the Killer Bs to start a regular season game for the Yankees or for Jesus Montero to manage a 0.300 avg in over 81 plate-appearances, to say nothing of a season.

Robinson Cano is one of the greatest talents in the game, is currently the best Second Baseman in all of Baseball, and likely has three solid years of high level play left.

Cano is a solid talent.
His average is a stable piece of his skill-set, as is demonstrated by a BABIP that has not strayed more than +/- 0.08 points in the last four years. His power is great, averaging over 40-doubles and 25 Home Runs each of the last four years, with an ISO climbing from 0.199 to 0.238.

Cano is 0.310/0.350/0.500/25HR/95RBI player with one to three more elite years ahead of him and likely a solid 3-5 years of 3.5-5.0 fWAR value.

He needs to stay in pinstripes for this team to remain competitive.

Any other conclusion is a knee-jerk reaction to watching players like Harper and Trout and fantasizing that by dumping Cano we could somehow manage to steal a top-prospect that will become the next Jeter or Pujols.

It is not going to happen.

We cannot replace Cano through Free-Agency with the 2014 class.
He is the youngest and most talented Free-Agent out there, unless you would like to replace him with a Career 2.9 fWAR Alexi Casilla.

Alex, Teixeira, and Jeter have seen their most productive years pass into history.
If your goal is to see this team compete the Yankees need to retain Cano and build a young core around him as he evolves into the resident Bat-Heavy Veteran.

Otherwise, the Yankees will need a real rebuild.

And that cannot happen until we stock the farm system and then give the prospects years of development time while hoping they turn out better than Brackman, Betances, Montero, et al.

Cano has realistically 3-5 good production years left that will meet the salary requirements of the contract.

How many of these young core prospects you keep referring to are realistically that far from major league ready. Heathcott? Williams? Banuelos?

Even if their regimens are accelerated into the major league lineup, first and second year adjustments may well present them in more of a Montero rookie year light then a Jeter rookie year light.

By the time they are truly ready to carry the team, Cano will be in rapid decline so your point is not valid.

I would also like to point out that A) Cashman has an absolutely abyssmal track record on developing these supposed farm studs into major league contributors and B) Cano has never once, NEVER ONCE demonstrated one solitary iota of clubhouse leadership so that point is invalid as well.

Unless you think Robertson and Gardener are going to carry this team.

You do not need to replace him immediately and make a further bad deal just to have a superstar at every position. That does not mean however that a credible offensive option may not appear ala a trade or future FA that could lessen the offensive loss at 2B so that point is also not valid.

All of Cano's potential and the Jamesian arithmetic you supplied above are quite undeniable but the fact remains that the contractual albatross that Boras is sure to hang on his next employer has to be viewed with enough financial skeptism to negate a lot of Robinson's positives.

Let's also remember that you cannot name one championship that Cano has delivered to us prior to this point, especially given that 2009 was ALL ARod and Matsui, and his lazy October play last year should be ringing warning bells for you.

[sauronthepower]

I agree on not giving him 8-10 years, but Cano is WAY better than Michael Young. Not a good comparison. He's more comparable to Chase Utley.

Utley flamed out real fast though and you could see the warning signs 4-5 years out.

Notorious for playing like Babe Ruth in April and May and then hitting like Babe the Pig for the rest of the season.

Like clockwork.

[IceHawk-181]

By the time they are truly ready to carry the team, Cano will be in rapid decline so your point is not valid.

In which time we will have had Cano's bat in the center of the line-up to keep the team competitive; by the time Cano is in a serious decline we will likely have a set of younger players whom time it is to take center stage.

Ergo, re-sign Cano.