The man knows more than protein shakes
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:16 pm by Marshall Seymour
Cano hit just .207 with runners in scoring position last year, but Girardi wasn’t upset with his approach in those situations. “There was a streak when he had made about 10 or 11 outs in a row with runners in scoring position, and he hit nine bullets,” Girardi said. “Over the long term that usually irons itself out, but when you don’t have 600,000 at-bats, it doesn’t iron out. His at-bats, a lot of times were very good with runners in scoring position. I didn’t think he had a lot of luck last year.”
According to Baseball-Reference, Cano's BABIP with RISP was just .210 vs. his .324 BABIP overall, so Girardi was right on the money with this one. We're proud to see him citing the concepts of small sample sizes and luck, and not questioning Cano's Clutchiness or HER (Heart Efficiency Rating). It's one thing when these ideas come from the front office, but there's something warm and comforting hearing it from the guy calling shots on the field.
Tags: girardi
That’s why I hired him, motherfuckers. Question me again, go ahead, I dare you!
Yeah, but lets not renew his contract after he delivers a title. No manager should have to deal with being in the last year of a contract when they have clearly earned a new one. Especially the Yankees manager.
Why not? The Yankees have a policy of not extending their employees until their contracts have finished. It’s a quality policy. If they won’t bend it for two future HOFers who have been with the team fifteen years, they aren’t going to bend it for a guy with three years managerial experience. Girardi’s job is safe. Extending people needlessly soon leads to either buyer’s remorse (hello, Omar!) or creating a distinction between secure and lame-duck managers. People would stop asking questions about an unextended manager if not extending him was SOP.
Not disagreeing with this assessment of Cano and the BABIP numbers don’t lie. But my eyes also tell me Cano hit a lot of weak ground balls last year with men in scoring position.
The BABIP doesn’t account for a hitter being anxious and off-balance causing him to get jammed, swing late, or be out in front. So maybe he did put the ball in play but without authority, causing his BABIP to be low.
I’d like to see how his line-drive rate with RISP compares to his rate with the bases empty. This would be a more telling stat to me, since it seemed to my (often lying) eyes that he did not hit the ball with the same authority with RISP.
Yeah, but lets not renew his contract after he delivers a title.
Wow, are people really upset over this?
So now teams are not only expected to guarantee huge sums of money to players and managers, they are also expected to renew these contracts a year before they are obligated to?
Both sides signed a contract. Why can’t they both fulfull that contract before the next one gets signed?
OH NOES, THE NY MEDIA WILL MAKE IT A STORY WHEN TEH YANKEES LOSE 2 IN A ROW IN APRIL!!!
You know, if teams weren’t in a habit of prematurely extending managers and executives, this concept of a lame duck wouldn’t be nearly as prolific.
I’m sure Fred Wilpon absolutely loves giving that extension to Minaya that only just kicked in this offseason.
I was going to write what spark said! I never saw a lefty roll his hands over more often than Robbie Cano did with RISP. Every AB seemed to be a weak grounder to the right side on an outside pitch. Did Girardi see those ABs? Bright side is: Just 599,950 ABs till Robbie’s next RBI double.
Maybe Girardi saw that Cano’s GB rate decreased significantly in high-leverage situations last year, and you’re full of shit.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statsplits.aspx?playerid=3269&position=2B&season=#battedball
His BABIP was about forty points lower than his xBABIP in high leverage situations, and his HR/FB collapsed to only 4%. While I suppose some of those could have been fairly weak flies, Fangraphs points out that NONE were infield flies . . .
That his FB% increased by over 15%, however, may indicate that he’s swinging for the fences.
Good find there, Kevin.
I didn’t forget you, Dominic. Okay, I did, but now I’m rectifying it. *wink*
This is Robbie’s year to prove he is clutch. If he has a 320 year and looks as bad as he has with RISP I guarantee Cash-money trades him lickety split.
I think you’re dumb.
I would have amazing trade value right now. I have no isoD, so my solid OBP this year will weaken if I don’t have an amazing batting average. Moreover, even though my isoP splits are the same home/away, I cannot expect to maintain > .500 slg. I could definately be sold high still being arbitration eligible and get us two really good middle infield prospects and a pitching prospect. We can always get Tony Womack or Miguel Cairo to play 2b this year…
I don’t mind them not renewing his contract now, since it’s policy, but it’s really not the same as a player. The only real reasons for not extending Jeter are not wanting other players to use it against the Yankees in the future (he got one, why not me??), protecting against a severe injury, and in this case, because he’s coming off an excellent year that he might not repeat (which would lower his asking price). None of these things really apply to managers.
I’m cool with it because it’s policy and Cashman has put his money where his mouth is and done the same thing for himself. But it’s not quite the same as it is for players.
So it’s not possible for the Yankees to extend Girardi now, and then he does a terrible job this season?
It’s unlikely, but it’s the same idea.
I don’t care how much luck goes into someone hitting with RISP. Robbie is, arguably, the best offensive second baseman in the AL. He needs to work harder and get better at getting guys in. With A-Rod, Tex and Posada hitting in front of him, he should have 100 RBI every year.
On top of that, I’m sick of everyone saying that Pedroia is better than Robbie. Because he’s not. Cano could have a HOF type career if he continues hitting in the .320 area every year, he just needs to get those RBI numbers up.
Yep. Keep on ridin’ Joke Girardi’s Chien-Ming Wang. Gay.