Cano optimistic about Mariners’ season
Robinson Cano’s 13th major league season starts Sunday when the Seattle Mariners gather as a full squad for the first team workout of spring training, and the seventime all-star was all smiles after arriving at team headquarters.
There’s reason for Cano’s sunny disposition, despite the rain that fell Saturday in the greater Phoenix area.
The Mariners came up just short of a wild-card playoff spot last season, one that saw Cano hit a career high 39 home runs. They’ve also made a number of major acquisitions in hopes of getting to the post-season for the first time since 2001.
“Last year we just missed it, we were pretty close, and he’s trying to make the team better,” Cano said about general manager Jerry Dipoto. “You see all the pieces that he got and that tells you a lot about a GM, that he wants to win. As a player that’s what you want. You want to come in and see the team that can go out there and compete.
“You know me, I always say this, I’m not a home run hitter. I would just say that was a great season, and I will go home and keep working hard and try to get better every year.”
Among the several new faces on the Seattle roster is Cano’s good friend Jean Segura, who hit .319 with 203 hits, including 20 home runs, with the Arizona Diamondbacks last season. Segura and Cano will be the Mariners’ double-play combination with Cano at second base and Segura at shortstop, and the two spent a lot of time working out together in the Dominican Republic in the off-season.
Cano also looks forward to joining his teammates at the World Baseball Classic next month, in which the Dominican Republic will look to defend its 2013 title.
“You have to forget about who you are, you just have to go out there and give it everything you’ve got, because it’s so short and it’s must-win,” Cano said of the WBC. “You don’t have a chance to do a lot of things, you just have to go out there and win games and take advantage of little mistakes every time you get a man in scoring position.”
After the WBC, it’s back to the business of getting the Mariners into playoff contention.
“Last year we lost like 30 games by one run,” Cano said. “We have a pretty good team. We have guys out there that want to win, including myself. I want to win so bad. I’m not preparing myself for just 162 games, I’m preparing to play in the playoffs.”
Harper won’t elaborate on why 2016 was down year
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bryce Harper says he knows “exactly why” he went from NL MVP honours in 2015 to a decidedly less-successful 2016.
He’s just not willing to share that reason.
Or at least he wasn’t on Saturday, when he met with reporters a day before the Washington Nationals’ first official full-squad workout.
“That’s all last year. That’s what you go through and you build and you grow and you try to maintain. And that’s what I’m going to try to do again this year,” Harper said.
Harper hit .243 with 24 homers and 86 RBIs for the NL East champions last season, significant dropoffs from the .330, 42 and 99 of a year earlier, when Harper became the youngest unanimous MVP in major league history.
When asked if he feels he can pinpoint why his production dipped in 2016, Harper began by responding, “Yeah, I mean, I know exactly why.”
However, he then danced around follow-up questions.
Kershaw to start opening day for 7th straight time
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Clayton Kershaw will make his seventh straight openingday start for the Los Angeles Dodgers, tying Don Sutton’s franchise record.
“You take a little bit of pride in wanting to do it every year,” Kershaw said. “I’m thankful to get to do it so long for the same team. Not a lot of people get to do that. It’s pretty cool.”
The announcement was no surprise. It took Manager Dave Roberts four days into spring training to say Kershaw will start April 3 at home against the San Diego Padres.
Sutton made seven straight starts from 1972 through 1978. Don Drysdale had seven opening-day starts but not in successive years. Fernando Valenzuela made six.
Kershaw is 4-0 with two no-decisions on opening day.