The Yankees can look at Alex Rodriguez or Robinson Cano in these playoffs and receive a referendum on avoiding a mega long-term commitment to Cano.
Rodriguez is just now at the halfway mark of his 10-year, $275 million contract and to say he looks helpless is an insult to the helpless. The Yanks don’t want to see five more minutes of this, much less five more years.
Which brings us to Cano, who is supposed to be the logical heir to A-Rod as both middle-of-the-order thunder and, at some point, top-of-the-pay-scale wage earner. Brian Cashman had even hinted during the season about breaking Yankee policy and trying to sign Cano long term before he actually reaches free agency following the 2013 season.
But the Yankees are going to, at minimum, have to reconsider that with Cano and also Curtis Granderson while pretty much scuttling any lingering thoughts of retaining free-agent-to-be Nick Swisher. If nothing else, Rodriguez has served as a cautionary tale about what kind of erosion can impact a player in the midst of an extended deal.
But Cano, Granderson and Swisher have done a pretty good job all by themselves of damaging their cases for money – at least Yankee money. Cano – one of the great hitters in the world – is hitless in his last 26 at-bats, which is the longest futility streak in postseason history. “Cano Can’t” is not the headline he wanted at such a vital moment of both the Yankee season and his career.
The Yankees offense was again so horrid in ALCS Game 2 that Hiroki Kuroda needed to be perfect just to play Detroit even. And the righty tried. Working on short rest for the first time in his career, he retired the first 15 Tigers. He yielded three runs because of bad defense by Cano, bad umpiring by Jeff Nelson, and bad relief pitching by Boone Logan and Joba Chamberlain.
But with their lineup not producing the Yanks have no margin for error anywhere else. The Tigers won Game 2, 3-0, took both contests in The Bronx and now have their ace, Justin Verlander, on full rest for tomorrow’s Game 3 in Detroit. Get your no-hit pools ready for that.
The Yankees’ offense already was struggling before losing Derek Jeter (fractured ankle), one of the few pieces that was producing. Joe Girardi mentioned how he hoped his lineup would be inspired to rise in the Captain’s absence, citing A-Rod, in particular. But there is no rousing this version of A-Rod, who is now 0-for-18 with 12 strikeouts vs. righties in the playoffs. Oh, by the way, Detroit starts righties Verlander and Max Scherzer the next two games and they finished 1-2 in the majors in strikeouts.
But A-Rod has aged to a supplementary player anyway. Granderson, Swisher and, especially, Cano were supposed to be prime-timers who carried the Yanks now. But Granderson is 3-for-25 in the playoffs, 1-for-12 with men on base. Swisher is 4-for-26, 0-for-7 with men on. He is a .167 hitter in the playoff games (25-for-150), including 1-for-34 with runners in scoring position.
The Cano collapse, though, is the most stunning. He is the kind of guy you can’t imagine going hitless in 26 straight at-bats if the mound were 50 feet away. Normally unflappable, Cano has shown anger and frustration during his struggles. He wants to be paid like The Man – that is why you fire your career-long agent and hire Scott Boras. But he is not responding to that weight. Every Yankee playoff loss – and they are now 3-4 this year – has been so close that a well-timed hit would have made a difference, and Cano is 2-for-16 with men on base.
Remember that Cano ended the season on a best-player-in-Little-League tear – 24-for-39 with 10 extra-base hits in the final nine games. He bounced four meek grounders Sunday and is now 2-for-32 in the playoffs. He led the AL with a 1.108 OPS against righties. He is 1-for-21 against righties in the postseason.
He is not carrying the Yankees. Instead, he is leading the A-Rod/Granderson/Swisher brigade that is killing them. That foursome is 12 for 107 with one homer. In fact, the Bronx Bombers have six homers in the playoffs – half of them by Raul Ibanez in just 16 at-bats
There is no fight in this fight. The at-bats are just non-competitive far too often. Jeter is gone, Ibanez cannot do this by himself. A-Rod is not the most qualified guy any longer to carry the team at such a time. The guy who wants to be paid in a vain similar to A-Rod is.
But in these playoffs, Cano cannot.