The Flagrant Fan Blogs: Robinson Cano

<div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The heading comes from Yankees' radio play by play man, John Sterling, used whenever <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.flagrantfan.com" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" target="_blank">Robinson Cano</a></strong><span style="font-size: small;"> hit a homer. The homers for Robinson Cano have been harder to come by playing up in Seattle's Safeco Field. But the loss of power is the only blip on Robinson Cano's season, a season that has seen him be just as valuable a player as he was on the Yankees.</span></span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, the power numbers are down. Cano put up an ISO average of over .200 for his last four years with the Yankees and was at .199 the year before those. It currently sits at .135. His home run total will likely finish half of what his average year with the Yankees was. But don't let that fool you into thinking that Cano has not been as valuable a player for the Mariners. He is right there giving the Mariners the same kind of value he provided for the Yankees.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Robinson Cano was credited with 6.0 fWAR last season. He is credited with 4.6 this season. The projections of both ZiPS and Steamer have him finishing the season at 6.1. To use full disclosure, Baseball-reference.com had him at 7.6 last year and at 4.9 this year. It does not seem likely that Cano will finish as high according to that site to his value from last year.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But WAR isn't the only calculation to look at. According to the two sites, Cano is having a very good year running the bases. Cano has a career high nine stolen bases in eleven attempts and his fielding is its usual fine self. So if the base running is better and the fielding is as good, what about the batting?</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">People always predicted that Robinson Cano would win a batting title someday. He might just do that this season as he is batting .330. That is his highest mark since his second season in baseball back in 2006. But batting average isn't the same stat it used to be in the minds of experts. Let's look at some other things.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, there is his on-base percentage. At .399 this season, if he was to maintain that for the last month and a half of the season, it would be his highest OBP of his career. He has walked 47 times (15 intentional walks) giving him a walk rate that is the highest of his career.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, in this strikeout prone era, he has only struck out 51 times. While his 10.5% strikeout rate was bettered in 2008 and 2009, as a percentage of the league average, it is much more impressive this year.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The walk rate, the strikeout rate and his on-base percentage have helped his wOBA to be right in the ballpark of last season. He finished last season at .384 and he is at .373 this season. That figure is above his career average of .369.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There certainly is a ballpark difference between Yankee Stadium III and Safeco. Because of that park difference, his wRC+ of 141 is right there with his figure last year of 142 and above his career average of 127.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But there is something else to think about there. With the Yankees, most of the time, Cano was just another All Star bat in the midst of a lineup filled with All Stars. In Seattle, he toils in a lineup that only has two other regulars with a wRC+ over 100. Seattle ranks 14th in runs scored in he American League out of 15 teams and 15th in OPS. Cano's OPS of .864 is 190 points above the team's average.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In other words, despite being a rock star in the midst of amateur garage bands, he is having just as valuable a season as he had with the Yankees surrounded by a lineup of All Stars most of the time he was there.</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was one among many who joked that Cano was going to a team without the tradition of winning after being on one where winning is the only option. We all look silly as the Mariners are a game ahead of the Yankees in the wild card chase and have the kind of pitching that could keep them there for the second wild card spot. Whose laughing now?</span></div><div style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not surprising that Cano's slugging is down playing in the vast expanses of Safeco for half his games (and away games at Oakland and Anaheim). But don't let that fool you into thinking is he is a less valuable player. He is not and has been worth every penny and then some to the Mariners. Yeah, you have to think about the back end of that deal. But for right now, Cano has been terrific and the Mariners have to be thrilled.</span></div>

Robinson Cano don't you know

The heading comes from Yankees' radio play by play man, John Sterling, used whenever Robinson Cano hit a homer. The homers for Robinso...

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<div style="text-align: justify;">I have not done this in a while and it is time to get back at it. I am the president of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. General is such a bland word. I think of generic when hearing the word. But that is far from the case as you see the links below. General simply means that the writers of this chapter write about everything baseball and are not specifically a site about one team or fantasy baseball or something like that. They are a great group of people writing about baseball because they love it. This post is about their work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What I do is go to each site and pick out one of the posts I find there. It is a time-consuming thing to do, but there is a lot of rewarding reading that occurs because of it. I have done the work for you, so all you have to do is click the link and enjoy yourself. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from this Flagrant Fan to you wherever you are.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The links:</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A radio personality has issues with <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/harvema01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Matt  Harvey</a></strong>. <i>The Hall of Very Good</i> rightly <a href="http://www.hallofverygood.com/2013-articles/december/radio-host-matt-harvey-has-done-nothing.html" target="_blank">pokes a few holes</a> in the stupidity of what the radio guy said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In its most recent post, <i>Off Base Percentage</i>'s Mike Hllywa <a href="http://www.offbasepercentage.com/2013/12/yankees-sign-carlos-beltran-capping-big.html" target="_blank">took a look</a> at the Yankees' spending spree this off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over at <i>The Golden Sombrero</i>, <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rosemi01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Mike  Rose</a></strong>nbaum <a href="http://thegoldensombrero.com/wordpress/archives/6535" target="_blank">posted some video</a> from the recent Arizona Fall League featuring <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hedges000aus&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Austin  Hedges</a></strong>, a Padres' prospect catcher.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://grubbyglove.com/?p=5499" target="_blank">This post</a> from <i>Grubby Glove</i> is the oldest of the link list, but it was such a fine piece and such a noble thing, that I linked it anyway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If podcasts are your thing (and I like them a lot), Eric and Jana from <i>#Off the Bat</i> presented by <i>Number One Baseball</i> had <a href="http://numberonebaseball.com/2013/12/off-season-extravaganza/" target="_blank">a great time</a> discussing the off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">TheNaturalMevs of <i>Diamond Hoggers</i> has some <a href="http://diamondhoggers.com/2013/12/20/a-rumor-ill-print-about-prince-fielders-wife-avasail-garcia-and-miguel-cabrera/" target="_blank">real juicy gossip</a> for you concerning the Tigers and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fieldpr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Prince  Fielder</a></strong>. I needed a napkin for this one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My friend, J-Doug is a brilliant, brilliant guy. His <a href="http://www.rationalpastime.com/2013/11/world-series-probability-added-papi.html" target="_blank">most recent post</a> at <i>Rational Pasttime</i> gives us a real cool win probability map of the most recent World Series and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/ortizda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Ortiz</a></strong>'s role in it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mike, over at <i>The Sports Banter</i> <a href="http://thesportsbanter.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-york-mets-2013-14-offseason-plan.html" target="_blank">left a blueprint</a> of what the Mets' off season should look like. At least one of his suggestions has already come true.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our German entry, <i>Dugout 24</i>, has <a href="http://www.blog.dugout24.de/was-ist-ein-bbcor-baseballschlager/" target="_blank">an interesting article</a> (once translated - thank you Internet!) about aluminum bats.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ben, of <i>Ben's Baseball Bias</i>, gave <a href="http://www.bensbaseballbias.com/2013/11/peter-bourjos-for-david-freese.html" target="_blank">his thoughts</a> on the trade between the Cardinals and Angels that swapped <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/freesda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Freese</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bourjpe01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Peter  Bourjos</a></strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Did you know that the Mets have a Santa Claus curse? Just ask <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighda03.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">David  Wright</a></strong>. Michael Clair of <i>Old Time Family Baseball</i> <a href="http://oldtimefamilybaseball.com/post/70594179815/the-new-york-mets-santa-claus-curse" target="_blank">has all the details</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I don't always agree with Sully of <i>Sully Baseball</i>. But he is easily one of the most entertaining podcasters in baseball today. Here is <a href="http://sullybaseball.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/sully-baseball-daily-podcast-december-21-2013/" target="_blank">one of his latest</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Sisco Kid put a <a href="http://baseballsiscokidstyle.blogspot.com/2013/12/looking-back-at-robinson-cano-contract.html" target="_blank">lot of thought</a> on the recent mega-contract of <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/canoro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Robinson  Cano</a></strong> for his most recent post at <i>Baseball Sisco Kid Style</i>. Definitely worth the read.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I met Dan, the author of <i>Left Field</i>, over the summer at a minor league game. He is not only a multi-talented writer and beer connoisseur, but a great family man and a terrific guy. And he is making head way in the baseball writing world and now writes for <i>High Heat Stats</i> and has his articles featured in a major newspaper. This post <a href="http://left-field.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-year-in-music.html" target="_blank">I have linked</a> is also his work and it caps the year in music. Awesome stuff.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot has happened in the past year for my good friends at <i>MLB Dirt</i>. They are now part of the <i>Field Rush</i> network and are teeming with great writing talent. I am still a part of their roster, but haven't had time to write for them in forever. Here is one of their <a href="http://www.fieldrush.com/chris-martin-former-boston-red-sox-prospect-reflects-recent-trade-to-colorado-rockies-and-career/#.UrXSZPRDs90" target="_blank">latest and greatest</a> from Andrew Martin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mario Salvini of <i>Che Palle!</i> has <a href="http://chepalle.gazzetta.it/2013/12/15/il-triplete-di-kemp/" target="_blank">some fun</a> with the <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kempma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Matt  Kemp</a></strong> gossip that has been keeping TMZ happy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot has also happened with <i>Call to the Pen</i> over the last year as they have become a part of the <i>Fansided</i> network. They also have a large crew of talented writers.<a href="http://calltothepen.com/2013/12/21/phillies-orioles-jonathan-papelbon-trade-rumor/" target="_blank"> Here</a>, one of them reports on the latest <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/papeljo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Jonathan  Papelbon</a></strong> rumor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of my favorite buds, Daniel Day of <i>The Ball Caps Blog</i>, has <a href="http://ballcapsblog.com/2013/12/07/whos-worth-more-a-baseball-player-or-the-doctor-keeping-your-wife-or-child-alive/" target="_blank">some perspective</a> of our weird money distribution in light of the Robinson  Cano deal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Through the Fence Baseball</i> has to be one of the hardest working baseball blogs in our chapter. One of their terrific team of writers, Jake Mastroianni, has a <a href="http://throughthefencebaseball.com/white-sox-transformation/40671" target="_blank">fine piece</a> on the rebuilding of the Chicago White Sox.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also met Bryan at a minor league game this past summer and I came away so impressed. In one of the <a href="http://replacementlevel.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/hot-stove-parenting/" target="_blank">best posts I have read this year</a>, Bryan talks about the 2013 Red Sox and his son. An amazing piece of writing over at <i>Replacement Level Baseball Blog</i>. Like Dan, Bryan also now writes for <i>High Heat Stats</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chuck Booth of <i>MLB Reports</i> (one of the most faithful #FF guys on Twitter!) has a <a href="http://mlbreports.com/2013/12/20/tjsurgeries/" target="_blank">terrific piece</a> on <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Tommy  John</a></strong> Surgeries over the years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the last three years, Graham Womack has invited the public to list the greatest 50 players not in the Hall of Fame. Theo of <i>Hot Corner Harbor</i> has a <a href="http://hotcornerharbor.blogspot.com/2013/12/50-Best-Not-in-Hall-of-Fame-2013.html" target="_blank">very interesting post</a> about his selections.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a really enjoyable piece, Matt  Whitener of <i>Cheap.Seats.Please</i> has a great <a href="http://cheapseatsplease.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/cut-the-check-mlb-signings-report-and-recap-3/" target="_blank">run down</a> of free agent signings. I was torn between picking this piece or the previous one on what all second place teams needed. Cool idea!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Christopher Carelli has neared the big time as he is writing for Yahoo Sports. He deserves every success. His <i>The Baseball Stance</i> blog is a good place to keep up with his various writings and <a href="http://thebaseballstance.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-york-yankees-giant-fork-in-road.html" target="_blank">this one</a> shows that he has been watching closely at what the Yankees are doing this off season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Of all the links here, and I love them all, you HAVE to read <a href="http://xtrabasehit.blogspot.com/2013/10/my-last-talk-with-pop-baseball-story.html" target="_blank">this one</a> over at <i>The Baseball Enthusiast</i>. You just HAVE to. Unbelievable writing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nik of <i>Nik's Baseball Corner</i> made all his <a href="http://niksbaseballcorner.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/top-82-free-agents-with-predictions/" target="_blank">free agent signing predictions</a> back in November. It is fascinating to look back. Nik hits the nail on several and was way off on several. But it's all fun.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The heading of <a href="http://offthebenchbaseball.com/2013/12/18/braves-acquire-ryan-doumit-for-some-strange-reason/" target="_blank">this piece</a> about the Braves acquiring <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/doumiry01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Ryan  Doumit</a></strong> (or Dumbmitt as I call him) drew me in immediately. And it gave me a good laugh. But the article is good except for the part about Doumit being a respectable catcher. Check it out at <i>Off the Bench Baseball</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A discussion of the 2013 season's best pitchers is <a href="http://payoffpitches.blogspot.com/2013/12/breakdown-of-2013-walter-johnson-award.html" target="_blank">the topic</a> of the latest post over at <i>Payoff Pitch</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Radical Baseball</i> is one of our newer sites and is written by Kenneth Matinale. I love posts like <a href="http://radicalbaseball.blogspot.com/2013/12/worst-lefty-batters-against-lefty.html" target="_blank">this one</a> on the worst left-handed batters against left-handed pitching over time. Great job.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another of our newer sites is <a href="http://knowhitter.com/2013/12/13/kingdome-crossover-seattle-mariners-this-week-in-walk-up-music-news/" target="_blank">not happy</a> with the Seattle Mariners' off season and not for the reasons you'd think. Check out Ben's entertaining post over at <i>Know Hitter</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dave, over at <i>Baseball Roundtable</i> has some Hall of Fame <a href="http://www.baseballroundtable.com/bbrts-2014-hall-of-fame-selectionspredictions/" target="_blank">predictions and thoughts</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Did the BBA really get <i>High Heat Stats</i>!? In my chapter!? Woo! That site is the bomb! They used to be the blog for baseball-reference.com until that site stupidly cut it loose. <a href="http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/12/seth-smith-and-the-almost-lost-art-of-pinch-hitting/" target="_blank">This post</a> by Doug on <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithse01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Seth  Smith</a></strong> shows why the site is so great.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another great new site to the BBA is <i>Baseball Hot Corner</i>. Here is that <a href="http://baseballhotcorner.com/shin-soo-choo-agrees-7-year-130-million-deal-texas-rangers/" target="_blank">site's take</a> on the Rangers' new deal with <strong><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/choosh01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.blogger.com" target="_blank">Shin-Soo  Choo</a></strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There you have it. Phew! I had forgotten how much time that takes. I was a young man when I started this post. Have a wonderful holiday season and here's to a very good baseball New Years to all of us. </div>

BBA Linkfest - General holiday greetings

I have not done this in a while and it is time to get back at it. I am the president of the General Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Allianc...

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Robinson Cano don't you know

BBA Linkfest - General holiday greetings

Human Rain Delays