What if the Texas Rangers had picked Robinson Cano?

On February 16, 2004 the Texas Rangers traded the 2003 AL MVP, Alex Rodriguez, to the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later. The Yankees reportedly gave the Rangers a list of minor leaguers and they were told to select one. The Rangers made their decision, and on April 23, 2004 the Yankees sent Joaquin Arias to the Rangers to complete the trade. Arias was not the only minor leaguer on the list the Yankees gave to Texas of course one of the more interesting names to accompany Arias was Robinson Cano a 21 year old infielder from the Dominican. The rest is history as Miquel Cairo played second for the Yanks in 2004 then Robinson Cano was called up in 2005 and has put together a great career so far, but what if Texas had selected Cano instead of Arias?

If Texas would’ve kept Cano in their system and not traded him he likely would’ve been called up in 2006 when Alfonso Soriano was traded to the Nationals, and his career would’ve took off from there but how would this change have affected the Yankees? The Yankees should consider themselves lucky the Rangers chose Arias instead of Cano, because an outlook on how things could have turned out at 2nd aren’t great. The Yankees signed Tony Womack going into the ’05 season and without Cano there to force Womack off of second the Yankees may have had to live with Womack, who had his worst career year in 2005 with the Yankees. After the 2005 season there was a minimum amount of talent available at second in free agency so the starting 2nd base job possibly would have been a spring training battle between minor leaguers Andy Cannizaro, Caonabo Cosme, Kevin Escalona, Russ Johnson, and Andy Phillips. If you are interested not one of those guys are currently in the MLB or on any MLB minor league affiliate. Knowing the Yankees brass it is safe to say Brian Cashman would have made some sort of deal to get an everyday second basemen but the likelihood is still that player would not be what Robinson Cano is now. Robinson Cano now in his 6th MLB season has made strides to be a complete player; he is a top tier hitter, a top tier defender, and has demonstrated above average power.

To think only 6 years ago Cano was almost a player to be named later, thats right he could have been the PTBNL scrolling across the bottom line on ESPN when the A-Rod for Soriano deal was announced. Now the Yankees are 16-8 a season after winning their 27th title and Robinson Cano with 9 HR 21 RBI and a .387 AVG leads the Yankees in all three categories, thank you John Hart you deserve your own plaque amoung all the Yankee greats.

Texas Rangers @ NY Yankees Series Recap: Get Out Your Brooms

Game One

Rangers 1 Yankees 5 (6 innings)

W: Sabathia L: Wilson

With the clouds hanging from above in the 1st inning it was quite obvious from the start Friday night’s game would likely be a short one. The conditions were terrible and it was seen early one the players were battling the field. Texas scored in the first, but the Yankees answered in their half of the inning to tie the game at one. The Yankees added three runs in the 4th after many sloppy plays by the Texas defense then added one more in the 6th after a Derek Jeter single. The game would wind up ending there as the game would not resume after a rain delay following the end of the 6th inning. CC Sabathia took advantage of the aggressive Rangers hitters and came away with nine strike outs on the night.

Game Two

Rangers 3 Yankees 7

W: Burnett L: Feldman

Game two was much more fan friendly than game one as this game went nine full innings but much of the same was seen out of the Rangers. Conditions were not nearly as bad but the Rangers continued to play sloppy baseball. They were only given one error but that does not reflect how poor their performance was on the field. Derek Jeter added his 3rd HR of the year, Alex Rodriquez finally broke out to get his first HR of the 2010 season, and A.J. Burnett shutout the Rangers over 7 IP but Saturday was the Brett Gardner show. Brett went 3-4 each of his hits coming by way of the infield single (none of which seemed to pass the pitchers mound). After the game Ron Washington even compared Gardner using his speed as a major weapon for the Yankees to the skills of Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki.

Game Three

Rangers 2 Yankees 5

W: Pettitte L: Harden Sv: Rivera

Keeping the theme of the rest of the series game three showed another masterful performance by a Yankee pitcher. Andy Pettitte struggled early but never lost his cool. In the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings he threw 11, 6, and 9 pitches respectively, and was able to complete eight innings for the first time since August of last year in Baltimore. On the hitting end Mark Teixeira ended his HR drought with his first of the year in the 3rd inning to tie the game at one.  Ramiro Pena, in for Derek Jeter who was battling a head cold, broke the tie in the 3rd with a 2-RBI single with the bases loaded in the 3rd inning, and then Jorge Posada continued his hot hitting with a HR in the 7th. To cap off the sweep Mariano Rivera came in to close out the game 1-2-3 striking out two Rangers.

*The Sunday game marked the 10th straight game the Yankees have not made an error*

Series Stats/Notes (By: Dan Reiner)

• Jeter: 5-8, HR  3 RBI  1 R
• Johnson: 0-9, RBI  4 BB 4 K (.158 season average)
• Teixeira: 2-11, HR  2 RBI (.114 season average)
• Rodriguez: 3-6, HR  4 BB  3 R
• Cano: 1-9, RBI
• Posada: 4-8, HR  4 R
• Granderson: 2-9, RBI  3 K
• Swisher: 0-10, BB (.200 season average)
• Gardner: 5-7, RBI  4 R  4 SB
• Sabathia (Friday): 6 IP  3 H  1 ER  9 K  0 BB
• Burnett (Saturday): 7 IP  6 H  0 R  7 K  2 BB
• Pettitte (Sunday): 8 IP  4 H  2 ER  4 K  3 BB
• Bullpen (Aceves, Marte, Chamberlain, Rivera): 4 IP  2 H  3 ER (all hits and ER allowed by Aceves) 5 K  1 BB
• Hamilton/Guerrero/Cruz: 3-29, HR  4 RBI  3 R  7 K

*Yankees Record to Date (4/18/10): 9-3*

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