Robinson Cano has played roughly 1.5 percent of his 10-year, $240 million contract. He has nine seasons and five months left to prove money for something.
All we have so far is a snapshot. But you would have to say it is not a very good one. Cano has been powerless, and that goes beyond the one homer he brings to The Bronx. He also has been powerless – thus far – to change the cycle of putrid offense and persistent losing that has ensnared the Mariners.
The April headline would be: Cano Cannot. He has been unable to overcome the unfulfilled youth and losing culture that has defined the Mariners for a decade. And, let’s face it — the kind of investment the Mariners made was for him to be a (free) agent of change.
Yet, only Houston has scored fewer runs and has a worse record in the AL than Seattle. And the Astros are barely trying. Their 2014 payroll is less than the first two years of Cano’s contract.
To be fair, we only have a pixel, not a full picture of Cano’s impact during this contract. But it did get me wondering what the early returns are from the offseason buying season. So think of it as election night and just a small percent of the vote is in and there is a large plus-minus margin for error in viewing the results:
Foreign exchange
Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tanaka are the AL Rookie of the Year front-runners and early MVP/Cy Young candidates. Plus, they are just going to fuel the spending frenzy for Cuban players and Japanese pitchers.
The White Sox gave Abreu a six-year, $68 million deal, and he leads the majors in homers (10) and RBIs (31) – both rookie records through April. He is the latest Cuban native to shine recently in the majors – think Jose Fernandez (though he was subject to the draft), Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Aroldis Chapman and Leonys Martin. The White Sox lead the majors in runs, to some large extent because of their Cuban triumvirate of Abreu, Alexei Ramirez (.897 OPS) and Dayan Viciedo (.956 OPS).
Meanwhile, the pitching translation from Japan to the United States is vastly improved from a Hideki Irabu/Kei Igawa past. Tanaka, Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, Hiroki Kuroda and even this version of Daisuke Matsuzaka all have pitched very well in the majors.
Yankees splurge
The Yankees invested more than a half-a-billion dollars in free agency this offseason, including to keep their own. So far, it has mostly been well invested. Tanaka has been their ace, Jacoby Ellsbury arguably their best player and Carlos Beltran a power/professional bat. Brian McCann has drawn praise for leadership and handling of the pitching staff, but his power stroke has yet to manifest. Dollar for dollar, their best free-agent sign of the offseason has been the minimum-waged Yangervis Solarte.
Grand experiment
The Mets hoped Curtis Granderson could be a cleanup-hitting force behind David Wright. But he already has lost that role, and with one homer, 28 strikeouts and an NL-low .129 average, he is drawing Jason Bay comparisons. Not good.
Twin killers
To fix a broken rotation, Minnesota invested $85 million in Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey – none of whom ever had pitched consistently well against AL competition. Nolasco (6.67) has the third-worst ERA among AL qualifiers and Hughes (5.14) the eighth-worst. If Pelfrey (7.32) qualified, he would have the second-worst ERA. The only one poorer belongs to Kevin Correia (7.33), whom the Twins signed to a free-agent contract the previous offseason.
Brave response
Late in spring training, the Braves lost Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy for the season (each to Tommy John surgery) and knew they would be operating without Mike Minor for a month. That was 40 percent of their rotation done for the year, 60 percent for April. Their season could have been over by Cinco de Mayo.
But Atlanta went shopping. Because his market had been chilled by the qualifying offer and worries about the state of his elbow, Ervin Santana was still available, and Atlanta ownership approved a payroll expansion to give the righty a one-year, $14.1 million deal. The Indians released Aaron Harang and – based on positive scouting reports – Atlanta picked him up for $1 million on the brink of the season. And no matter what else happens, he already has earned his money.
Harang leads the majors in ERA (0.85) and Santana (1.95) is not far behind. In all five of his starts, Harang has worked at least six innings and given up one or fewer runs. That is equal to the whole Indians rotation and more than six teams.
Over/under ‘qualified’
The qualifying offers damaged the markets for Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz (who also was hurt by his Biogenesis-related suspension). Baltimore waited until late in the offseason and then pounced on both – with mixed results, to date.
After signing for four years at $50 million, Jimenez’s career struggles within the AL East have persisted. He is 0-4 with a 6.59 ERA overall in five starts, including 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA and .945 OPS in four starts within the AL East. Cruz, meanwhile, is a one-year, $8 million godsend, leading Baltimore in homers (7), RBIs (25) and OPS (.956) at a time when slumps/injury have limited Chris Davis, J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones to a combined three homers.