Yankees- Robinson Cano- Coming into the 2009 season, there was a lot of doubt over Robinson Cano's future in New York. After being handed a big contract, his performance fell off a cliff in '08. He managed to hit only .271/.305/.410 in the final year at the old ballpark and played some of the worst defense of his career, posting a -8 UZR. In fact, fangraphs.com valued his worth at only 2.2 million dollars after being worth over 20.7 million in 2007. Their was a fairly large and vocal contingency of Yankees fans willing to write him off as being a lazy waste of talent.
However, more statistically minded baseball fans noted his sudden drop in his BABIP despite a slight spike in LD%. Compared to a career average of .324, it was only .286 in 2008. For a guy who's value is so closely tied to his batting average and aility to put the ball in play, that was catastrophic. In 2009, he proved it wasn't going to become a trend either. He bounced back in the best way possible and had the best year of his young career. Not only did his average jump all the way up to .320, he also seemed to add a little bit of power and plate disciplince to his game. Not that he's suddenly transformed into Adam Dunn, but he did post new highs in HR's, doubles, SLG%, and ISO. All in all, it was good for a line of .320/.352/.520 and a wOBA of .370 which is outstanding for a second baseman.
If I had to pick out negatives with Cano, it'd be that he posted a -5.2 UZR in 2009 and his value is very closely tied to his BABIP. So, another 2008 is not inconceivable if he is hit with some bad luck. One might also wonder how Melky's leaving could affect his play. However, the Yankees have a 28 year old second baseman who posted the third highest wOBA out of all the second baseman in the ML's. He's under their control for the next few years at a relatively cheap price to and theirs plenty of teams that would love to have to deal with the headache of Robinson Cano.
Red Sox- Dustin Pedroia- We may joke about Dustin Pedroia and how the media tends to glorify the "scrappy" second baseman. However, their's no doubting that he's a really really good player who could be a major thorn in the Yankees' side for years to come. Like Cano, he came up through the team's minor league system. Although he had a rough time in his debut way back in 2006. Since then, he's emerged as one of the best young players in the game and its been nothing but good news for Boston's second baseman.
In his first year of full-time duty, he impressed in 2006 and seemed to justify the hype. He hit .317/.380/.442, good for a .365 wOBA, and played some very solid defense at second. If he followed the normal progression of a young player, the Red Sox had a major talent on their hands. Pedroia didn't follow the normal progression though and outperformed everybody's wildest expectations in 2008. He hit .326/.376/.493 which is a good year for anybody but is just ridiculous for a second baseman. Their were probably better candidates for MVP that year but you have to respect that Pedroia had an outstanding year in 2008.
He wasn't quite as good last year, regressing back to 2007's offensive levels. That's definitely good enough though and nobody can complain about a .360 wOBA coming from second base. The other aspect of Pedroia's game that is really impressive is that he plays a great second base. He posted UZR's above 10 in both 2008 and 2009 and their were actually few rumblings about him actually moving to shortstop earlier in the offseason, though those rumors seem to be dead now. Is he overhyped? Yes, but that doesn't mean he isn't still very good at baseball.
Advantage- Red Sox- I went with Boston here but its only by the tiniest of differences. Offensively I'd probably give Cano the edge. I chalk his disastrous 2008 campaign up to bad luck and I doubt it will happen again. Not only that but I think he made some real changes and improvements in 2009 so his wOBA of .370 is probably his true talent level. Pedroia looks like he's really worth the .360 he put up last year as he's put up a mark close to that two of the past three years. Ultimately though, the defensive gap is to much for Cano to make up and you can't toally ignore 2008 either. That year really altered the perceptions of these two players around baseball but they're a lot closer in value than most would have you think.
