Friday, December 5, 2008

Olney: Yanks Would Ask For Billingsley or Kershaw for Cano

Yesterday Ken Rosenthal mentioned that the Dodgers may restart talks with the Yankees about Robinson Cano. Today Buster Olney had this to say about a potential Cano to LA trade:
The Yankees also have had internal discussions about second baseman Orlando Hudson, whom they would sign, presumably, if they were to move closer to the long-considered swap of Robinson Cano to the Dodgers (or some other team). If the Yankees were to trade Cano to L.A., they almost certainly would insist upon an elite pitcher like Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley in return, and in failing to get that, they'd lock in on outfielder Matt Kemp.
I'm just going to retype exactly what I said yesterday: I'm starting to think more and more that the Yankees should not trade Cano. I think he's turned a corner mentally and is finally putting the work in to be a star.

I do like the idea of bringing in pitching for Cano instead of an offensive player, but again, I'd probably rather the Yankees hold on to him.

11 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This could just be BS the Yankees are feeding the press to up his value. I know his numbers in the winter leagues look very appealing so far. But maybe the only reason we're hearing about his work ethic and Long is working with him everyday is to up his value to where it was a year ago.

Greg Cohen said...

I don't think it's bs. The Yankees just want him to be a better baseball player. Will that up his trade value? Yes,but it will also up his value to the Yankees as their second baseman.

Anonymous said...

If this trade was going to get done it would have happened one of the other million times it was brought up. This trade idea has been looming since July and I don't see it happening now. Anyways, the Dodgers might as well sign O-Dog themselves, its not like he is going to cost that much more than Cano.

Anonymous said...

Cano's bad year last year was a fluke. He will learn from it and be a better player. Now, if we can get a stud young pitcher for him, do it. Not for Kemp, we have a ton of OF's and he's not like a young bernie williams.

Anonymous said...

Yanks are looking in a bad way in the OF - esp. after this year. And esp. defensively, though offensively they aren't looking that hot, either. I'd take Kemp over those Dodger pitchers right now, and straight up for Cano.

Anonymous said...

But if he has another bad year, its will be harder to explain that it was just one bad year where he slacked off. Remember Roberto Kelly for Paul O'Neil ?

Not saying Kelly is half the player Cano is, but give me an elite pitcher and the deal is done. Give me a tuff hard nosed center fielder and a pitching prospect, and the deal is done.

logan69 said...

cano for kemp and kershaw, otherwise have a nice day

logan69 said...

billingsley had surgery recently because he tripped iver his own two feet

Anonymous said...

Matt Kemp struck out 153 times last year and has marginal power. As a righty in YS, new or old, he's at best a 18 hr 75 rbi guy and that's being generous. Cano could be a bona fide #3 hitter, from the second base position. And although lax at times, he has tremendous range, a great arm and turns the DP about as slick as I've ever seen. If anything the Yanks are undervaluing Cano because he had one off year. If he gets his head straight he will be a star. Kemp is a second tier player, and any deal for Cano with the Dodgers should include one of those pitchers and Kemp.

Anonymous said...

You HAVE to do Cano for Kemp, or Cano for Kershaw.

Cano for Kershaw is self explanatory, so I'll go with the Cano for Kemp one.

Kemp is a .300 hitter with 25-30 HR power, and 40 SB potential. He can even play a decent CF. Cano is a .310 hitter with basically 20 HRs and 10 SBs.

I'd take Kemp over Cano anyday. And Kemp plays in a tough hitters park as well, as Chavez Ravine is considered a pitchers park as well. And not to mention, Kemp is 2 years younger than Cano.

Anonymous said...

You're giving Kemp way too much credit. A .799 OPS in his first full season, and just a .340 OBP. I'm not in any way sold that he's some lock to be a future 30 HR, 100 RBI, .300 hitter every season.

His kind of numbers thus far don't even project to anything that you can't easily replace for an OF. Sure, I'd take the guy, but not at the expense of Cano in a position that's hard to fill. Orlando Hudson, as decent of a 2B as he is, has a career 99 OPS+, meaning he's an average hitter... Cano had an OPS+ of 126 in 06, and 120 in 07. If we assume that 08 was a fluke, and that his previous two full seasons are a better indication of his ability, he should be back around 120 or so at the age of just 26. Hudson will be 31 in December, and has been nothing more than an average slap hitter his whole career. I don't know where all the interest in this guy is coming from, but he's just not that great.

Point being, Cano, if you believe he'll revert to a normal progression in the future, is a much better hitter than Hudson, and 5 years younger. I'm not going to give up on a guy after one bad season, and not for Matt Kemp. For a quality arm? I'll take a look. For Kemp? No way.