MLB

Calculating Cano’s value could be matter of timing for Yankees

The general perception is that MVP awards can be won or at least sealed in September. A tight race can — and often has been — determined by a top candidate carrying his team into the playoffs.

However, I wonder if Robinson Cano can win the MVP in April. OK, not win it. But score significant “valuable” points that would influence voters when come the October election.

I suspect Cano’s stats, as always, will be there in the end. He has, after all, finished in the top six of the MVP voting each of the past three years. But not all accumulated stats are equal.

Or as Orioles manager Buck Showalter said, “When some player tells me that his numbers will be there at the end of the year, well, you lose me.”

Translation: When do you produce the numbers? Right now, the Yankees are without Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. It has left Cano as the one great hitter in the lineup. Thus, if he were to carry the Yankees to, say, a 16-10 April by putting up an 8-10-homer, 25-plus-RBI month, wouldn’t that be incredibly valuable?

Considering who is out? Considering the doom and gloom that floated around the team to begin the campaign?

“We need Robinson Cano at his best,” hitting coach Kevin Long said.

Of course, if Cano or the Yankees fall apart afterward it probably won’t matter. Still, now is an hour of crisis for the Yankees. And after a woeful first six games, Cano has 11 hits (seven for extra bases) in 19 at-bats with eight RBIs in the past four games. He couldn’t outhit the mistakes of Phil Hughes (three homers, five runs in three-plus innings) yesterday in a 5-3 Orioles triumph.

With Eduardo Nunez unavailable, Cano did wind up playing shortstop for the first time as a major leaguer in the ninth inning after Jayson Nix was removed for a pinch-hitter. Obviously, though, his main value will come at the plate, never more than now when the Yankees are in survival mode.

I know there is an argument that wins are wins and do not have greater worth in September than April. I agree with that. The worth is the same. But there is a difference in meaning. There is little context for a win in April. But in September, when magic numbers are in play and teams are trying to hold onto playoff spots or squeeze in, the pitches and the at-bats come with a different level of pressure.

So there is a bit of September in this April for the Yankees. Because there is a ton of meaning — perhaps more meaning than any of the last 20 Aprils. Because there was such doubt about the quality of this team. And because there was wonder if the Yankees could stay afloat until key players began to return, which could be around May 1 for Granderson, Jeter and Teixeira.

It is why if, say, Vernon Wells only plays like a star in April and helps the team win, and then falls apart when Granderson and Teixeira are back, then Wells would have had great value. It is in the timing.

In 1996, for example, Dwight Gooden was putrid early and fell apart late, but in the four months in the middle — the period David Cone missed after aneurysm surgery — the former Met pitched like an ace for the Yankees. The Yanks do not win the AL East — and, thus, the World Series — without Gooden, and he didn’t even make the postseason roster. His value — because his excellence came while Cone was absent — was substantial.

Right now, as another example, Josh Hamilton is struggling as the Angels have played themselves to the bottom of the AL West. They have lost their ace, Jered Weaver, for at least a month, so a team that was going to have to score to win needs Hamilton more than ever to help stabilize a listing ship. If Hamilton doesn’t do that and the Angels’ season never recovers, shouldn’t that count against his MVP candidacy, even if he ultimately puts up brilliant numbers, because he was not valuable when the Angels needed him most?

This is Cano’s situation right now. If he just accumulates later as part of a band with Teixeira, Granderson, etc., it will be helpful, but probably a lot less meaningful.

“I don’t think he is adding any pressure to himself,” Long said. “He knows what he is capable of doing.”

The shorthanded Yankees need all he is capable of now. If he were to be brilliant between before the return of the cavalry, be the key to the Yankees staying a strong contender, it would be most valuable.

joel.sherman@nypost.com