DUMB & LONELY IN SEATTLE

Money doesn't buy happiness. You don't believe me? Ask millionaire Robinson Cano, the guy with talent and money and nothing much else in Seattle.  Every Yankee fan called it when he signed his mega deal with the Mariners.  It's typical selfishness when it comes to free agency...Greed heads go for the money and never think anything through. It was crystal clear to you and I and thousands of other Yankee fans who were called "losers" when we bad mouthed Cano for darting for the money.  Well... now there is rapid speculation "Cano's no longer happy in Seattle" and "Cano is sad about his time with the Mariners."  Here's the thing, that speculation was predicted last season.  We all knew the it was a dumb deal.  We all knew 10 years was a long time, and I for one suggested then that that deal with Cano and the Mariners wasn't about Cano at all... he was just the puppet. It was about Jay-Z making a major deal for his Sports agency.  Read OH, I GET IT. THIS IS ABOUT JAY-Z, NOT CANO. That was from last November 2013. I wrote then:

"Over the past 48 hours, this “Deal” that Robinson Cano wants, isn’t about Robinson Cano at all in my opinion.  This is about brand new Sports Agent Jay-Z trying to make a name for himself. Not as a rap mogul or fashion designer or entrepreneur. No... he's done that already. This is about Jay-Z making a huge splash as a Sports Agent."

Cano was massaged and fell for it, not realizing it at the time, but he is now and it may be too late.

Yup, I just went for the throat; he's dumb and he's all alone in Seattle.  Seattle had a plan, to "bring a championship" to Seattle.  A Championship? Really? Cano's no Ken Griffey Jr.  Let's get that straight.  1 man does not a championship make... and Cano is not that franchise player.  He wasn't in New York and he sure as hell isn't out West.  I have to laugh because if he wanted to be "top dog", he could have been in New York. All he needed to do was sign a modest contract, stick around till Jeter retired and he'd be the guy.  We all saw that... not Cano though.

Now look, I can't pinpoint the speculation that Cano is truly unhappy in Seattle. I can tell by his body language.  He doesn't look like he wants to be there.  Then again, the guy never hustled, so he never looks like he even cares about baseball. But I've noticed the guy seems uninterested, especially the last 2 games we've played them.  Plus, couple that with a BronxPinstripes.com report that says this:

"Sources, including Michael Kay on his radio show on Monday, are speculating that Cano, just a year and a few months into his mega contract with the M’s, is unhappy in Seattle. The reasons include the lack of a Dominican population in Seattle, which is about as far away from the DR as you can get in the continental US. Because of their remote location the Mariners have longer travel than any team in the league (their closest road trip is still 2 hours by plane)..."

Now take that speculation with a grain of salt.  There is not 1 major publication reporting that story, just Bronx Pinstripes. Again, it's speculation from them. But wait... there's more...

The New York Post has a great nugget suggesting that maybe being is Seattle is "Jason Bay-ing" Cano. Interesting:

"'He’s a proud guy and when things got off a little slow for him, it’s easy to press, even out here in Seattle,’ Mariners hitting coach and ex-Met Howard Johnson said before the Yankees crushed Felix Hernandez and the Mariners, 7-2, Monday night at Safeco Field.

Hojo believes Cano can use the entire field a bit more, the mindset Cano had his first year as a Mariner. Sometimes, he said, hitters get a little pull conscious.

'I think when you are used to hitting the ball out of the ballpark, you had the same thing with Jason Bay in New York,' Johnson said. 'Guys want to hit the ball out, they got numbers and stuff, people expect that and the human-nature side, you start to try to go for that as opposed to doing the things you did when you were successful: That’s be a good hitter first and home runs will come later.’

 Bay was a disaster with the Mets."

Whatever it is, the piling on has started.  Yankee fans are either smiling because of Cano's failures or feeling bad for him.  Me? I never hated Robinson Cano. But I don't like the greed aspect of the game and it's been going on forever.  Sure, I'm picking on Robbie alittle bit, but I'm trying to make a point here. Money doesn't always buy you happiness, and while Kevin Kernan of the Post writes in fairness that "...Cano has no second thoughts. He insists he made the right decision to come to the Mariners last year,"  I'm not buying it.  If you can't play well, it will get to a player. You not only start to beat yourself up, you start to blame everything around you.

Robinson Cano is NOT a .246 hitter... but he may be now and if that's the case... have a fun 9 more years in Seattle.

Hey, that's my take anyway.

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SNARKY POST SNIPER TAKES AIM AT THE CAPTAIN

I am under no delusion that this post will do much to combat any anti-Yankee feelings. I mean I write for Bleeding Yankee Blue. Now those who read articles on the site know that you get the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the Bronx Bombers here. We try to call it down the middle, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a Mets’ fan (as an example) just dismissed the entire endeavor as a Yankee propaganda machine…they’d be wrong. I have always thought that by and large fans and writers around baseball have found one piece of common ground to agree on, that being that Derek Jeter is a class act. I was fairly certain that it was just something we all saw clearly and concurred on. I have friends in Boston, hardened Yankee haters by the way, who will tell me time and time again, “I think the reason I dislike him is because I like the guy so much.” And they pull no punches in New England when it comes to all things New York.

The thing I think I’d been missing is that the deepest hatred of the Yanks and their Captain doesn’t come from the club’s greatest rival. It doesn’t come from the west coast or smaller markets…it comes from the other team and their fan base right here in the City of New York. The Mets hate on a grander scale than I ever gave them credit for. Silly Metropolitans, whining is for kids.

Michael Gray of the New York Post wrote a less than flattering article about Derek Jeter and his last season recently. Gray, a New York Mets fan, takes issue with the Captain and calls out his ego driven antics on this his final lap in the Big Leagues. The Post writer feels that Jeter’s humble, team first persona is a sham. He feels that Jeter is every bit an ego-maniacal superstar and that this farewell tour was a calculated, plotted out “Me” fest. He is not only absolutely wrong in my opinion; he is absolutely a sham himself and is letting his Yankee inferiority complex fuel his writing.

(In Photo: Jeter 1996)
I am an admitted Yankee fan. I am also a fan of Derek Jeter as a player and a person. If ever there was a “real deal” it’s the Kid from Kalamazoo. It’s not only the Yankees and their fans that will tell you Derek is as good as advertised. It’s his PEERS that truly tell his story. It the guys he’s played with, against and the guys coming up who looked up to him. That is the measure of a man. Mets’ fans and so-called Sports writers don’t have to like it, but don’t let your own nonsense cloud your vision. Your club is the other New York team. That isn’t really Derek Jeter’s fault. It’s not really anybody’s fault. The Mets got to the party later. The city was claimed long ago. Get over it…or move to Jersey. I won’t miss ya.

I am biased when it comes to my team, but I have said, agreeing with Gray, that we should save up the goodbyes until the end of the year. It would be EXACTLY what Jeter would want to. Michael’s sad attempt to paint Jeter as a selfish Prima Donna is just lame. You can see his words dripping with the jealously a sorority sister might have for the girl that got invited to the big formal dance by the Varsity letterman. Hey Mike, I think they did a better job with Citi Field if it helps you.

I don’t want to sound like the “Obnoxious Yankee Fans” I hear so much about. I don’t hate the Mets or their fans. I don’t see a rivalry here. My Grandmother became a Mets fan when the Dodgers (who I really do dislike) left Brooklyn. She would always talk about her “Ronny Darling” and “HoJo”. I have good memories of watching those great Met teams win…they weren’t my team, but hey, good for them.

The league on a whole is going to push and pull Derek Jeter to get every inch of press and money out of his farewell. It will be out of the man’s control for what he will have to deal with on this last ride into the sunset. Anyone not blinded by his or her own Blue and Orange glasses can see that. Derek Jeter is one of the good guys in this game…maybe one of the last. If it bothers you turn off your TVs and wait until 2015.

Read Casey's take on Gray & the Captain too. Read JETER ISN'T ABOUT EGO. WRITE THAT DOWN.

** Anyway, I was going to send out “Hey Jealously” by the Gin Blossoms to Michael Gray…but I’m angrier than that. I want him to WALK away. Here’s Pantera.”

--Mike O'Hara, MLB Fan Cave Host, Season 1
   Twitter: @mikeyoh21
"Paulie was always my favorite player."



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