In the preseason I wrote about why I didn’t think Robinson Cano was worth a first round pick. Before we look back at my reasoning and before I decide whether I feel similarly for 2014, let’s figure out if I was right.

The technical answer is probably that I was right, but in practicality, I was dead wrong. Cano finished as the 26th most valuable player in our end of season valuations, and he finished 13th on ESPN’s player rater. So yes, technically Cano did not produce like a first round player. But of the players you might actually have considered taking over Cano in the first, only Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and Andrew McCutchen turned out to be more valuable. If you took Cano in the first, you were probably pleased with what you got from him. You were certainly happier than the owners who took Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, Albert Pujols, and Justin Verlander.

Above I linked to my original article on Cano, but, in summation, I didn’t like Cano for three reasons.

1. I didn’t think 2012’s power surge was sustainable.
2. I was concerned about him turning 30.
3. I was concerned about his struggles against lefties. Read the rest of this entry »

If Howie Kendrick is anything, he’s a case study for how batting average doesn’t really tell the entire story. Here’s his batting average over the last five years:

Pretty static, right? A few bloops here & there and a little bit of BABIP luck or not slightly changes the numbers, but Kendrick has been essentially the exact same guy for five years in a row, if you only worry about batting average.

Now let’s look at that same chart, but with wOBA included: Read the rest of this entry »