MLB

PEDROIA’S EFFORT LEVEL LEAVES ROBBIE IN DUST

BOSTON — I formed a seven- man committee comprised of one NL GM, one AL GM, and five assistants — three NL and two AL — and posed this question:

If you could have Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia for the next five years, who would you take and why?

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The result surprised me. All seven executives picked Pedroia. He is the reigning MVP. But his 2009 season is down from last year while Cano has rebounded to have a positive campaign. Pedroia just turned 26, Cano turns 27 in October. I thought Cano might receive some extra points for potentially aging better than Pedroia, whose all-or-nothing swing scares me for the long term.

However, all seven respondents followed a basic theme: “Pedroia has better makeup and gives his all every day,” an NL exec said. “On natural ability, Cano tops the list. But Pedroia is a winner and a leader.”

Right now, the Red Sox need more than Pedroia’s positive, gritty nature, however. It would help if he could, for example, pitch. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 20-11 last night to open a 7½-game AL East lead. So it appears that at advantage at second base (Pedroia went 2-for-5 with an RBI; Cano 1-for-6 with an RBI and two runs) is not going to help Boston repeat as division champs.

Still, what became obvious from the respondents was that Cano has an image problem that lingers even as his overall game has improved this year. For if both second basemen took the field in workout garb for hitting, running, throwing and fielding drills, Cano likely would be the more impressive player. But the perception lingers that Cano does not concentrate well and floats through too many at-bats, while Pedroia treats every inning as a baseball holy war.

“I trust [Pedroia’s] ability to grind and persevere more than Cano,” the NL GM said.

This explains why Pedroia vs. Cano has felt like a treatise on substance vs. style.

In recent years, as the Red Sox have become champs and the Yanks high-priced disappointments, the rivalry — in many ways — could be defined at second base: Pedroia was tough, team-oriented and totally invested mentally and physically in winning. Cano was even described by one Yankee as “soft” and is viewed as not maximizing his abundant skills or being a winning player. Cano often appears to value making plays look good rather than simply completing the play.

Even Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, a Cano fan, said of Pedroia: “He might get the best out of his abilities of anyone in baseball. Whatever is in his tank, he gets the most out of it.”

Long feels Cano’s concentration is improving. That has manifested on defense this year where Long called him “impeccable.” Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) has Pedroia as the majors’ best defensive second baseman and Cano as a negative player. I just don’t buy it for Cano. He has eliminated the botched routine play while remaining brilliant going to his right and turning double plays.

On offense, however, Cano’s discipline remains a problem. He is batting .203 (29-for-143) with runners in scoring position and .330 (123-for-373) otherwise. Pedroia is hitting .330 with runners in scoring position. Still he had fewer homers (18-10), extra-base hits (54-47) and RBIs (61-53) than Cano. Pedroia, though, had drawn 31 more walks (54-23). He also looks the underdog at 5-9 and prematurely bald. What is forgotten is Pedroia was talented enough to be a second-round pick (2004) pick. Still, it is hard to argue a substance edge over Cano.

And Cano, at the least, knows where he needs to narrow the gap: “You never stop learning baseball,” he said. “And, yes, I am trying to be focused all the time.”

joel.sherman@nypost.com