Canó: First Base, Second Base, Third Base, or...?

The Ners’ second baseman has returned. How should we use him?

When Robinson Canó went down with a broken hand in May, the Ners’ future looked bleak. When it was announced the following day that he would also be suspended 80 games for violating the MLB substance laws, it looked bleaker. Yet here we are, right on the cusp of making the playoffs – and Canó is now once again a member of the 25-man roster. So how should the M’s use him? Two MM editors weigh in…and for once, appear to agree.

Anthony

Robinson Canó should play as much as he physically is able to, which, coming off of his suspension/DL stint, should be a lot. He is one of the top 3 hitters on the team and, lest any Ners fans forget, we are in the middle of a freaking playoff race and need every run we can manage. Robbie is also guaranteed to not have a postseason, regardless of where the Ners finish. So let’s grind him into the freaking ground.

I don’t really care where he is shoehorned into the lineup; he is a better hitter than Ryon Healy, Dee Gordon, and Kyle Seager – and thus should play ahead of each of those players at 1B, 2B, and 3B. Before Robbie was suspended, he had an OPS+ of 133. Healy has an OPS+ of 98, Gordon has an OPS+ of 80, and Seager is sitting at a career-low OPS+ of 92. This is not hard math. Without Canó, the Ners have scored 3.95 runs per game. With him, we scored 4.69 runs per game. We need his bat in the lineup – we cannot just rely on Cruz and Haniger to drive this offense down the final stretch.

Defensively, this will get a little weird. Primarily, Canó and Healy should platoon at first base. When facing a lefty, Healy should start at first. His career platoon splits are much better against left-handed pitchers, although this year he has oddly been better against right-handed pitchers. I subscribe to the “regress to the mean” philosophy and believe the smaller sample should be ignored. Thus when facing right-handed pitchers, Canó plays first base.

When facing left-handed pitchers, Canó should take the majority of his playing time from Dee Gordon at second base. I fucking love Dee Gordon, but watching him at the plate is a real struggle right now. Replacing Dee with Canó makes this lineup much more dangerous, and putting Dee on the bench gives us the option of bringing him in to pinch run in late game situations. That said, Dee still some consistent ABs (he was in CF yesterday?) so he’s not a total loss if we make the playoffs.

The rest of Canó’s at bats when facing left-handed pitchers should come from Kyle Seager. For once, Seager has not been very good in the field or at the dish this year, and replacing him with Canó will hopefully give him time to make adjustments before the playoffs start. Third base will be the hardest adjustment for Canó defensively, so limiting the number of appearances he makes there will be ideal.

The Mariners need Robbie Canó’s bat in the lineup as much as possible over the final month and a half. It is a difficult balance between benching players we would need in the playoffs with giving Robbie enough appearances to get us there, but weird shit happens in the postseason so I am much more concerned about getting there than anything else. And in order to get there, we need Canó to play as much as possible – and Scott will need to get creative to shoehorn him into as many lineups as he can. It’s not like Robbie won’t have an entire offseason to recover from this month and a half sprint.

Travis

Once upon a time in June, I shivered to think about what would happen when Canó inevitably returned to the Ners’ active roster. Back then, we were a jump-start team who destroyed opponents worse than us and competed with anyone on our level. Much like the ’95 squad, we had appeared to overcome the loss of a key player, as others stepped up to fill the gaps.

But then – also like ’95 – the losing streak took its toll. July was a struggle, and August appears to be similar. What once had me nervous as to where our anti-hero of an All Star might (re) fit into this vibing team has now popped up as a potential saving grace. We have 3 players who are going through struggles, and Canó can potentially help ease each of their pains.

The first is Ryon Healy. Believe it or not, this is the one I am least concerned about. Healy appears to have settled into a nice mid-.200s batting average, which is decent for a Ners’ first baseman. And while most of the talk about Canó’s return has him rumored to be replacing Healy, I actually think Seattle is content with the way the righty is swinging the back – and playing defense over at first. (This is something we haven’t talked about by the way; Healy is a godsend over there. Has he made an error?). Canó should play first 1-2 times a week, particularly when the team faces a right-handed pitcher.

On days when we face lefties, Servais can turn to platoon options #2 and #3. First comes second base; yes, we all love Dee (and yes, he hit the game winning dinger yesterday), but holy shit Dee hits dry patches with the sticks like ya read about. Stick Robbie back at second 2-3 times a week, and let Gordon take a break from trying to do too much. It will make Canó feel at home to be back in his usual position – and I want him to gain as much confidence as possible, if he’s going to help elevate this team past Oakland.

On the other day(s) of the week, Canó should cover for Kyle Seager. As Seattle baseball fans, we like to think of Kyle as the Iron Mariner – the guy who is always in the lineup, no if ands or butts. But Kyle is struggling. And the team can’t have struggling hitters right now, given how our rotation has suddenly collapsed into disrepair. As Anthony mentioned, Canó playing third will undoubtedly be an adjustment, but if it’s only 1-2 times a week, I think we can get away with it. If the game comes down to the wire, we’ll stick Romine out there for defensive purposes – or hold onto Seager for a PH appearance.

The bottom line is this: as Anthony and I appear to agree, Robbie should be playing as much as possible. I don’t think he should swap out one of our current position players completely, but instead take turns subbing for them. Get him some comfort back at second, get him some reps over at first, and give Kyle a break at the hot corner.

“But what happens in the playoffs?” You ask. Me: “I don’t care.” We have a good team – and we have good players at each position of interest who can step up in October. But we have to get to October first…and to do that, we need Robinson Canó in the lineup. And we need Robinson Canó to produce.

#Opinion #TeamOverview