Not too worried about Cano.

Anyone else see that our boy Melancon gave up 3 HR’s in one inning to Texas last night? Ouch.

You mean: our boy Melancon scored… how many runs?.. vs. Boston last night, don’t you?
Solid citizen.

Melancon era 49.50.

So Cano isn’t on the verge of Teixing?

I’m not at all worried about Cano, but if I were inclined to be worried, I’m not I would take much solace in his .256 BABIP.  For a hitter, isn’t a drop in BABIP as much an indication of not hitting the ball as hard as it is of bad luck (i.e., hitting the ball just as hard, but to a fielder)?

I’ve seen a lot of screaming liners from Cano that go right to the fielder. We saw one last night - can’t remember if it was the 1B or 2B-man.

[5]
...uh, isn’t that just why you WOULD take solace in his BABIP?

[7] He’s saying it might well suggest weak contact - the parenthesis goes to just “bad luck”.

[6] Ditto, liner to the first baseman. He also hit a liner pretty decently to left, iirc.  Generally Robbie is making solid contact and has hit a bunch of atem balls. 

Arod doesn’t look too bad to me either. 

More worried about Tex.  R-Mart’s bat could be getting worser too.

ARod doesn’t look good to me. He has far too many wave/swings at pitches on the outer half. I’m obviously not a professional hitting coach (or am i?) but he looks very out of balance to my untrained (or is it?) eye.

[10] Alex looks kinda lost. Not in bad swings, but he looks like he’s guessing instead of recognizing pitches.

Hasn’t A-Rod said he’s a guess hitter?  Also there was that thing in, maybe, ESPN Magazine? years ago that he steals signs from the catcher. Maybe his peripheral vision is declining.

Teix has hit a couple screaming liners too that went right at ‘em.  And John Sterling told me you can’t guide the ball.  Except when a “professional hitter” “takes the ball the other way.”

Cano’s LD rate is at 25.6%; his career average is 19.8%. And his average from 2009-2011 is 21.9%. 

From what I’ve seen, Cano has looked pretty good at the plate despite his numbers so far. I’m not too worried.

Rilke, you’re right, I missed a word.

But hadn’t SG just addressed LD rate, etc.?

Just happy Robbie hasn’t been hitting home runs, hope he winds up in single digits.  Over 30 would be tragic.

Anyone read Mike A’s series on Teix’s hitting woes?  Specifically today looking at spray charts as a lefty.  He wraps up with:

I’m going to tie a bow on all this with some kind of wrap-up post tomorrow, but again I want to point out that the shift isn’t the only reason Teixeira’s batting average and BABIP has declined from the left side of the plate. He’s developed some bad habits aiming for the short porch, specifically the uppercut that has led to so many more fly balls. I have no idea how much work it would take to correct something like that, but I can’t imagine it would be easy and/or happen overnight.

I think it’s much MUCH to early in the season to evaluate whether Teix has fixed his problems.  Though some I think have already come to the conclusion that he hasn’t.  It could just be an early season slump.  But if he isn’t hitting better by June, he needs to follow Jeter’s example.  Ankle injury followed by visit with first hitting coach…

But hadn’t SG just addressed LD rate, etc.?

I did, but I also said that it was too soon to make much of them.  But yeah, the evidence says his batted ball types to this point don’t support the much lower BABIP.

What struck me about Cano recently was a plot at I think RAB of ranked WAR/season by 2b - Kinsler’s been pretty much as good as Cano, and also some other guy not on my radar who just signed a contract as well.

[19] Brandon Phillips, I assume.

[20] It was.

Can Stewart play 2B ?

Can Stewart pitch as a starter?

Way more worried about Tex than Cano. He is older, is signed for 5 more years, and hit 220 last yr as a lefty after a bad year in 2010. If he did not change his swing in the off season he is nto changing it now either. ugh.  Cano? 11 games? chill out.