Robinson Cano Did Something Special In Seattle

The Mariners carry two of the highest paid players in Major League Baseball on their roster: King Felix Hernandez and Robinson Cano.

It’s one thing to get paid $25 million or $24 million a year to play baseball. It’s something entirely different to actually provide that value. In today’s game so many players hit the free agent market, get paid by the boat load, and never really produce the numbers worthy of so many Benjamins– at the moment Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton of the LA Angels of Anaheim come to mind.

Then, there are guys who start of strong as expected, then their numbers plummet in the final years of their contract.

At least through 2014, Robinson Cano has avoided becoming the washout.

Robinson Cano has now batted over .300 for six straight seasons. The only person with an active streak that long is Triple Crown winner and MVP lauded Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers.

Even with a very slow and uninspiring final month of the 2014 season, Robinson Cano finished with the following stat line:

.314/.382/.454, 14 HR, 82 RBI, 37 2B, 61 BB, 68 SO, 77 Runs scored.

Those numbers, considering he had guys like Kendrys Morales and Corey Hart hitting behind him most of the season, are far and away impressive. According to ESPN, his WAR for 2014 was 6.4, more than enough to warrant his $24 million price tag.

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It’s so impressive that Cano moved across the country and continued doing his job. He was derided left and right, was chewed out by Yankees fans for ‘only being in it for the money’ (oh the irony).

Stats guys said that Safeco Field and a sub-par lineup surrounding him would kill his numbers. Sure, Cano only hit 14 home runs, but so much of his ‘power’ at Yankee Stadium came from the short porch in right field.

Cano has become the model of consistency in Major League Baseball. Six straight seasons batting over .300, never exceeding more than 100 strikeouts in a season, and averaging over 153 games per season over the course of his 9-year MLB career.

Robinson Cano is 8 days away from his 32nd birthday, that’s true. He also has 9 more years on his $24 million a year contract. But thus far, in year one, he’s been everything the Mariners wanted and needed from the anchor in their infield, and in the lineup.

Even if the next 9 years aren’t as pretty as this one, Cano is going to have a chance to provide the Seattle Mariners with something they’ve never had: a World Championship.