Can the Yankees avoid the missteps of the Red Sox and Mariners?

Landing the Big One

So in December of 2013, they got serious and signed one of the top ten players in the game, 2B Robinson Cano. That move was supposed to catapult the M’s to the playoffs, with subsequent moves perhaps making them WS contenders.

But all of this has not added up to even a single playoff appearance so far. And now the team is degenerating.

The pitchers held up their end of the deal in 2014, with all four of their most prolific starters pitching to an under four ERA. The King was so energized, he went out and had his career year: 2.14 ERA, 0.915 WHIP, and 248 strikeouts. All remain career highs.

But the offense was a disappointment. Cano had a stat line similar to his one the previous year with the Yankees but with one big difference: Power. Here is his 2013 line with the Yanks: .314/.383/.516. And this is the following season with Seattle: .314/.382/.454.

That dip in SLG was most felt in the loss of homers and RBI’s. Cano hit 27 home runs and collected 107 RBI’s for the Yankees in 2013, but for the Mariners in 2014, he produced just 14 and 82, respectively.

He has, in fact, only once equaled or surpassed his home runs from 2013 for the M’s and has never delivered as many RBI’s. But that just means he has not helped them as much as he could have. The real problem is that almost none of the homegrown offensive players panned out.