Robinson Cano left the Yankees following the 2013 season, the first step in a second base carousel that is impacting the 2016 season.
The Yankees did not attempt to solve the position in a significant way until last offseason, when they dealt Adam Warren for Starlin Castro. The Cubs dealt Castro to create financial wiggle room and a position for Ben Zobrist. The Mets were positive they were closing in on Zobrist to replace Daniel Murphy.
When the Zobrist option slipped away, they briefly reconsidered Murphy, but instead acquired Neil Walker from the Pirates, who installed the versatile Josh Harrison as their second baseman.
Got that? It is part of a season that in some ways is second to none: Murphy led the majors in hitting and Zobrist in on-base percentage, and four second basemen (Murphy, Houston’s Jose Altuve, Cano and Zobrist) were in the top 10 in OPS — and Matt Carpenter, who recently was shifted from third to second, is 11th (all stats going into the weekend).
Cano led the AL in Wins Above Replacement, and three other second basemen (Altuve, Detroit’s Ian Kinsler and Boston’s Dustin Pedroia) were in the top 15. Eight second basemen qualified for the batting title had an OPS of .833 or better. Last year, Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis led second basemen with an .823 OPS.
There never has been a season in which so many second basemen finished with at least an .830 OPS. The current high is seven in 1999, led by Hall of Famers Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio.
So who, to date, has gotten the best of the domino fall that began with Cano signing a 10-year, $240 million pact with the Mariners? Some thoughts:
1. Zobrist
Like everything else so far in 2016, the Cubs are winners. They escaped the long money with Castro, whose concentration, conditioning and streakiness concerned the Cubs. Warren, despite a late-May dip, has been valuable. And pretty much every theory the Cubs had when giving Zobrist $60 million for four years has proven correct.
They believed if they mostly limited the versatile 35-year-old to second base, his health and defense would be better (check and check). Mainly, they wanted to put a disciplined switch-hitter into their strikeout-heavy lineup. Zobrist had walked 11 more times than he had whiffed, and his .436 on-base percentage was by far a career-high even for a patient hitter.
2. Murphy
No surprise that a National was leading the NL in slugging. But it was not Bryce Harper.
Murphy has carried over his historic postseason as a Met to the team now keeping the Mets out of first in the NL East. The Mets felt it was time to move on from Murphy, but think about how valuable he would be right now for them with both David Wright and Lucas Duda injured and Murphy’s ability to play their positions. Murphy had 11 homers (his career-high is 14) and his 1.030 OPS led the NL.
The Mets selected UConn lefty Anthony Kay with the 31st pick Thursday, compensation for the Nats signing Murphy. But Washington has no regrets about losing its selection and giving Murphy a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the way he is performing offensively.
3. Cano
Whether Cano’s contract was worth it for Seattle will not be answered for seasons. But after his poor showing in the first half last year, Cano has made sure the deal is not a disaster. For 2016 might be his best season, and he finished in the AL MVP top six in five straight years (2010-14).
The debate also will linger if the Yanks would have been better off taking Cano’s slightly discounted request (10 years at $235 million) or splitting the 10 years in two players (Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury) at a total of $198 million.
No team has gone longer without reaching the playoffs than the Mariners (2001). Cano’s brilliance was key to them holding the second wild-card spot as the weekend began.
4. Harrison
Like the Cubs getting Warren for Castro, the Pirates turned Walker into Niese (6-2, 3.93), and Harrison has made sure there is no slip at second by hitting .327 with 11 steals in 12 tries.
5. Walker
Even more than Murphy, the Mets wanted to part with Niese, so using him for Walker made sense. Walker has been what the Mets hoped, providing power (surprisingly from the right side, too) and (until a recent blip) a defensive upgrade over the unsteady Murphy.
The Mets needed Murphy’s strong postseason to convince them to use the qualifying offer that ultimately netted Kay. The qualifying offer will go up to about $16.5 million, but if Walker’s season continues to progress in this way, they will have to qualify him as well.
6. Castro
He is an improvement over Brian Roberts and Stephen Drew — the stopgap solutions to succeed Cano. But Castro is owed $30 million more from 2017-19, and it is fair to wonder if the Yanks will regret being tied to those three seasons.
Castro has assets — durability, some pop. But you see the mental lapses at the plate, in the field and on the bases that frustrated the Cubs. There had been hope that playing around more veterans in New York would bring maturity to his game. He is still 26 — but 26 with nearly 1,000 games played already.
Castro is not a dud. But of all the teams touched at second base by the domino effect of Cano’s New York departure, the Yankees still seem the most unsettled.