Robinson Cano
There were two things which became very clear Sunday Night. First, with Dominic Smith going 4-for-4, there was no way the New York Mets could option him to Triple-A Syracuse after that performance. It was just a testament to the fact he needed to play everyday.
With Francisco Lindor being miked up for the game, it also became clear Robinson Cano was a very loved and respected player in that Mets clubhouse. Apparently, his two PED suspensions did nothing to change that.
More than anything, that is what made this easy decision all the more difficult. The Mets players wanted Cano there. They believed in him. Despite that, and despite the $40.5 million still owed to him, the Mets really had no other choice but to designate Cano for assignment due to the rosters shrinking.
Really, the Mets had no other choice. For Cano, he can’t run, and he doesn’t have his bat speed. Sure, he hit a homer, but his exit velocities were lower than Luis Guillorme, who is a slap hitter and stellar defender. There’s just no room for a player like that on the Mets right now.
In some ways, Cano is a victim of the Mets success here (using the term victim very lightly here). The Mets are a very good team and a true World Series contender. They need to be focused on winning over trying to extract the most out of their investment. Another note here is if not for the lockout, this decision may never be made. If it was a 26 man roster out of Spring Training, in all likelihood, Travis Jankowski starts the year in Syracuse with Cano lingering on the roster.
That said, you have to remember Cano was out of baseball for a year. After 2020, you had to imagine there was more in the tank than what we saw so far in 2022. There’s a real chance he still needs some time to get up to game speed, and with that the bat speed will come. It’s just that the Mets were not in a position to be the team to give him the playing time for that to happen.
With the DFA, the Mets are not precluded from assigning him to Syracuse. Obviously, the Mets are going to get that chance because there is no chance whatsoever anyone claims Cano. After all, Brodie Van Wagnenen is out of baseball.
So for Cano, the question is whether he’s wiling to go to Syracuse. To some extent, it makes sense for the Mets. If Cano really is the proven veteran leader he’s made out to be, he can be a good influence on players like Khalil Lee, Nick Plummer, and Mark Vientos. Cano can also get to hit. If he doesn’t, that could put him in position to get called back up to help the Mets, especially in the event of an injury.
If he doesn’t, well, now we all know it will never happen again, and the Mets can finally cut him loose for good knowing they did all they could do.
As for other teams, who is going to come calling? There might’ve been a small chance with the Miami Marlins, but it’s doubtful with Cano’s teammate Derek Jeter out with the Marlins. As of the other 28 teams, who is taking that chance? Remember, this isn’t an Albert Pujols situation. Pujols could still hit left-handed pitching extremely well.
Right now, Cano does nothing well. If he wants to prove he still has it, he has to go to the minors with the Mets being the best chance. Of course,. that is if the Mets want to do that instead of just moving on from this error, sorry era. At this point, you can’t blame them. Still, for whatever reason, you have to believe Cano may just have one more shot before his career is officially done.
For the seventh time in seven tries this season, the New York Mets won a series. For the second time in team history, they did the impossible:
1. The co-no will forever be one of the greatest moments in Mets history. Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz will forever have a special place in Mets fans hearts.
2. I don’t get everything right, but I got this one (# 55) in my preseason predictions.
3. Between that co-no, the Robin Ventura, Grand Slam Single, and all things Mike Piazza, black is forever a Mets color, and that debate needs to end.
4. It’s somewhat interesting that no-hitter came from Jacob deGrom‘s spot in the rotation when deGrom can never seem to get that close himself despite his unhittable stuff.
5. The next game was a letdown, but it was hilarious the Mets were up 1-0 at one point scoring a run on no hits.
6. In that no-hitter, Kyle Schwarber was walked in all three plate appearances. Seeing him the rest of this series (and his career), this is a very smart strategy.
7. The Mets finally started playing Dominic Smith, and guess what? He had a 4-for-4 game. Shocking, I know.
8. You can’t send him down after that game. In fact, it only reaffirms he’s your everyday 1B/DH.
9. Francisco Lindor and his teammates have said they’d be upset if Robinson Canó is the one cut, but let’s be honest. The team will be upset with any of the position player choices.
10. We don’t talk enough about the possibility J.D. Davis could be the guy. Really, the only thing which keeps him up is he’s the only right-handed bat on the bench.
11. The injury is preventing Sean Reid-Foley from being DFA’d, but it’s a damn shame it was a torn UCL which prevented it.
12. Say what you want about James McCann, but he’s had a big impact this year with his work behind the plate. That co-no was the latest example.
13. Taijuan Walker coming off the IL and pitching like that was just what the Mets needed. It shows just how deep that rotation is, and with a rotation that deep, this team can win a World Series, and that’s before you even account for deGrom.
14. The Mets best player has arguably been Jeff McNeil. He’s not back to his 2019 form because he’s a much better version of that now.
15. There is something wrong with Pete Alonso. It’s difficult to know what it is at the moment, but this is just not the same player right now.
16. David Cone was criticized, but he was right. When the Mets are good, fans come out of the woodwork. That’s obvious because those fairweather fans flock over from the Bronx to Queens when the Mets are good. We know those fans exist in New York. Let’s not pretend they don’t.
17. That ESPN booth was brutal, which was odd because Cone and Eduardo Perez are great. Perhaps, it is because Karl Ravech is not a play-by-play guy who brings his color analysts into the conversation. Also, Buster Olney calling Ronald Acuna Jr. this generation’s Willie Mays was just about the dumbest thing he ever uttered. He should have had his mike cut and sent home.
18. The wave is an indelible part of Mets history as it was a big part of the 1980s celebrations. There is a place for it in the game, and at times, we should do it. However, doing it in the late innings of a close game is a blatant violation of the wave rules, and we should not stand for it (pun intended).
19. The Mets have won seven straight series. To do that at any point of the year is a phenomenal feat. With the Atlanta Braves coming to town, they absolutely have to make a statement and make it eight in a row. Do what the 1986 Mets did to the St. Louis Cardinals and let the Braves know this division race is over before it began.
20. As Ron Darling said after the co-no, that was one of the special moments you get after a special season.
Tylor Megill 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Drew Smith, 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 4 K
Joely Rodriguez 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Seth Lugo 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Edwin Diaz 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER. 0 BB, 3 K
There’s so much to talk about with this game.
Robinson Cano started and was booed. Mark Canha finally got his first extra base hit as a Met in the fifth. He was driven home on a Jeff McNeil RBI single. Not bad for your eighth hitter.
Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha and Jeff McNeil cook up 2 runs in the 5th! pic.twitter.com/vithjqZ2kM
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 30, 2022
After a power drought, we saw Pete Alonso homer in the sixth. It gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.
Polar Power! 🐻❄️💣 pic.twitter.com/3YmI6Qyno4
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 30, 2022
This was all great. Fantastic even because it allowed what happen to happen. For just the second time in New York Mets history, they pitched a no-hitter.
This was entirely different than the first.
There was no Johan Santana/Terry Collins drama. In fact, Megill was out after throwing 88 pitches over five innings.
The Mike Baxter moment was Brandon Nimmo making a diving catch to rob Jean Segura of a hit. It wasn’t as dramatic, but it certainly was a great defensive play.
Brandon Nimmo to the rescue!!! pic.twitter.com/hnJEXGRJOO
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 30, 2022
This one wasn’t in doubt with a Carlos Beltran type play. Really, this was just pure and utter domination. The Phillies struck out 12 times. Oh, and by the way, they had no hits. The last out was J.T. Realmuto.
HEEEEE STRUCK HIM OUT!!!!!
THE METS HAVE THROWN A COMBINED NO-HITTER! pic.twitter.com/yitTc1jo2Z
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 30, 2022
This was a special moment in a special season.
That just happened!!!
Combined #NoHitter! #MetsWin #LGM pic.twitter.com/3f9tA28Exi
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 30, 2022
LETS GO METS!
After this weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets are going to have to make a decision. They will have to cut one pitcher and one position player as the team needs to bring the roster down from 28 to 26. If this was purely merit based, the answer to that conundrum would be Robinson Cano, who has only shown he’s done.
As of this moment, if it is not Cano, all signs point to Dominic Smith, and the biggest reason why is he has an option remaining, and he does not have five years of service time. As a result, he can not reject the assignment to Triple-A.
Based on the numbers so far, there isn’t much of an argument. Through 17 games, he is hitting just .182/.300/.212 with a double and three RBI. More troubling behind that 69 wRC+ is a 30.0 K%. Even if there has been some recent improvement, including his go-ahead pinch hit against the St. Louis Cardinals, he just hasn’t shown enough so far this season.
A large part of that could be attributable to how the Mets have handled him this season.
As the Mets approached Opening Day, Smith was showing his 2021 shoulder issues were behind him. Max Scherzer was commenting how Smith was showing an ability to hit balls he was never able to hit. He was red hot at the plate, and he looked poised to return to his 2020 form where we all thought he was on the verge of being a star.
As it turned out, the team first looked to get Cano going. Even after he had a PED suspension costing him the 2021 season, they rewarded him with the Opening Day start. Smith would have to stay on the bench. He would actually be the last Mets player on the roster to get an at-bat and a start in the season.
Nearly a full month into the season, Smith has only started on back-to-back days just once. While having good numbers against left-handed pitching, better than Pete Alonso, he is benched against left-handed pitchers. Really, this is the story of his entire Mets career.
Heading into the 2018 season, the Mets signed Adrian Gonzalez to block Smith. When Gonzalez didn’t work, they went to Wilmer Flores. They never gave him an opportunity to compete with Alonso for the first base job. Time and again, the Mets just go out of their way to find excuses to not play Smith, and then when he doesn’t succeed in a tough situation, they act like they’re justified pretending like he didn’t thrive with extended playing time in 2019 and 2020.
All-in-all, Smith hasn’t performed this season. Certainly, there is blame on his shoulders for not taking advantage of his limited opportunities. That said, sooner or later, the Mets need to put him in a position where he can thrive and be an everyday player because Smith has shown he isn’t just an everyday player but a good one at that.
Back in 2001, things weren’t going well for Steve Trachsel. Over his first eight starts with the New York Mets, he was 1-6 with an 8.24 ERA averaging 4.2 innings per start. With that struggle, the Mets approached him and asked him to go down to Triple-A to get himself right.
For Trachsel, he didn’t want to lose a spot in the rotation and move to the bullpen. In the end, Trachsel accepted the assignment saying, “It’s going to make me better. In the long run, that’s a good thing.” (Tyler Keper, New York Times).
It turned out to be the best thing for him. After that rough start, he would go 10-7 with a 3.35 ERA over his final 20 starts. That included a two hit complete game shut out in his final start of the season. From there, Trachsel would go on to have a solid Mets career highlighted by two one-hitters during the 2003 season.
Fast-forward 21 years, and the Mets are facing a conundrum with Robinson Cano.
Due to the altered roster rules resulting from the lockout, the Mets have to pare down their roster from 28 to 26 by the end of this month. In all likelihood, that means they need to drop one pitcher and one position player. If this was Spring Training, the answer to that would probably be Travis Jankowski, but he has shown his value to this team, and it is highly unlikely he will be designated for assignment.
That leaves Dominic Smith, who has an option, and Cano, who is easily the worst player on the roster right now. If this was purely merit based, the answer would be Cano. Before delving deeper into that, the question is what does Cano want for himself?
At the moment, Cano’s bat has been slow, and his legs are even slower. His defense has slipped entirely. He’s chasing pitches he never chased in his career, and he looks like he’s just about done. You have to imagine Cano doesn’t want his career to end like this.
It should be noted Cano missed the entirety of the 2021 season due to a PED suspension. He did play in the Winter Leagues, but he has nowhere near the amount of at-bats needed to get into a rhythm and shake off the rust. Truth be told, he’s not going to get that with the Mets.
The team is deploying Luis Guillorme when there are groundball pitchers on the mound. The DH spot is being used to keep their position players fresh and healthy. Jeff McNeil is the regular second baseman, and his bat is not coming out of the lineup. This leaves Cano with no regular playing time, and as a result, he has no ability to get back up to game speed.
If Cano truly wants to get back to being Cano,, this is where accepting an assignment to the minors helps him. At the moment, there isn’t a second base prospect blocking his playing time down at Syracuse. He can go down there and play everyday. He can work to hone his approach much like Joey Votto did last season. He can get up to game speed and help him stop pressing and flailing away at pitches.
This would be his best avenue to truly get ready to contribute to the 2022 Mets. He can agree to a certain time frame, and in all honesty, there will likely be an injury permitting the team to call him up sooner rather than late.r
If this is about the team and his future, Cano should accept the assignment to Triple-A. Time will tell if this is something he will consider. If it’s offered, he should accept it.