Seas calmer for Cano, Mariners
Star, team find better chemistry after stormy 2015
Robinson Cano props himself into a folding chair, looks around the Seattle Mariners clubhouse, laughs at his teammates playing pool and nods in admiration at his rookie manager before suddenly jumping off the chair.
His eyes turn cold, and it’s clear this is a subject he doesn’t want to address. Andy Van Slyke. He was the Mariners assistant hitting coach who was fired after the 2015 season along with general manager Jack Zduriencik, manager Lloyd McClendon and the rest of the coaching staff.
Van Slyke went down swinging, ripping into Cano on a St. Louis radio station, saying Cano was responsible for their firings by his performance.
The words still reverberate:
“Robinson Cano was the single-worst third-place everyday player I’ve ever seen for the first half of a Major League Baseball season.
“He couldn’t drive home Miss Daisy if he tried. He couldn’t get a hit when it mattered.
“He played the worst defense I’ve ever seen at second. I mean the worst defensive second baseman ever.” And they still sting. Cano indeed had an abysmal first half, hitting .238 with four home runs, 24 RBI and a .621 onbase-plus-slugging percentage over the first three months. But he rebounded after July 1, hitting .330 with 17 homers, 55 RBI and a .920 OPS.
No matter, the damage was done.
“He can say what he wants,” Cano said of Van Slyke. “I was criticized by a lot of people. I don’t pay attention to that. It is what it is.
“But you know what? I was hurt. I ended up having two hernia surgeries after the season, not just one, but I still played. So I wasn’t faking it. I wasn’t making excuses. I kept playing because I love this game so much.
“Everyone will see the real me this year. I just have to stay healthy.”
Cano reached over and knocked on his wooden locker for luck, and his expansive smile returned.
“Now, I just feel so good,” he said. “I have my confidence back. Now I can hit like I want to hit and make the plays I want to make. I can move to my left, to my right, everything.
“It feels good to be able to play the game on the level you want.”
This spring, Cano has resurrected memories of his glory days with the New York Yankees. He’s hitting .365 with seven homers, 16 RBI and a 1.246 OPS while showing more range than he has in years. He homered three times Sunday against the Chicago Cubs.
“It’s shocking to the eye what he’s doing athletically,” Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said. “He’s been locked in from the batter’s box from Day 1. He looks as good as he ever has.”
Says new manager Scott Servais: “This guy, he’s got something to prove. He wants to show everybody that he’s one of the great players, that he hasn’t taken a step back. The biggest thing for everyone is that he feels healthy and is looking to have a big year.
“He’s more attuned in the game, too. Defensively, we have a lot of shifting going on here, and he’s been all in. He’s asking, ‘ OK, where am I here in this triangle?’ He’s looking in on every pitch. You can tell how much he cares about this team and how much he wants to win.”
Cano, in the third year of a 10year, $240 million deal, sensed a different vibe the moment he walked into the Mariners clubhouse, where a pool table dominated the center of the room.
It arrived a few days earlier, thanks to rookie reliever Tony Zych and stark instructions from Servais. They were having a daily meeting before the arrival of position players when Servais summoned a few pitchers and catchers, asking questions.
He wanted to know Zych’s hobby. A little pool playing, Zych told him. Someone called him out, saying Zych was a pool shark. Servais took it a step further.
“OK, you got three days, I want a pool table right here,” Servais told them. “Right in the middle of this (expletive) room.”
Zych gingerly walked to Servais’ office after the meeting and asked if he was serious. Dead serious, Servais said. Zych worried about the expense. Servais told him it would be taken care of.
“The next day he comes back,” Servais says, “and he says, ‘I went to the billiards place down the street and we can get this thing for $3,500. They’ll put the slate and the felt on right here.’
“I told him, ‘Just do what you’ve got to do. Get it in here. You’ve got one more day.’ ”
The table arrived, and when the bill came a few days later, Cano ripped it from Servais’ hand and told teammates, “I got this thing.”
“The pool table became the center for social activity,” Dipoto said. “Guys didn’t leave the park. You had 30 guys in the clubhouse playing in a pool tournament and guys ragging on each other. It was a different clubhouse than I’ve ever seen.
“I couldn’t be happier with how our transition has gone with Scott and our new coaching staff and how quickly the players have bonded.”
And Cano was the ringleader, embracing all of the leadership responsibilities.
“I’ve been around a lot of great players during my years, but he’s been awesome,” Servais said. “I can’t begin to tell you how good he’s been.”
It started almost the moment Cano arrived at camp. He was summoned into Servais’ office along with veteran teammates Nelson Cruz, Felix Hernandez and Kyle Seager. Cano sat in the middle of the couch, flanked by Cruz and Hernandez, looking intently at Servais.
Servais, who traveled in the offseason to meet individually with many of his players, said, “I told them, ‘ This is your team. This is your clubhouse. I’m here to coach. I’m here to lead. But it’s your team. I will not B.S. you. I got B.S.’d as a player. I saw right through it and lost respect for that person. So here’s what I got. Here’s want I want to do. And here’s why. We’re going to have a lot of meetings. Some of it may be eyewash in your guys’ eyes, or think it’s B.S. I’m not asking you to change who you are, but if you feel comfortable, I’d love for you to sit in the middle and join in without me drawing you in every day.’ ”
So in the Mariners’ first fullsquad meeting, who was sitting in the middle of the room, engaging in conversation, making sure everyone felt part of the team, trying building their confidence?
The next thing they knew, 55year-old first-base coach Casey Candaele is dancing and lip-syncing one day, Hernandez is picking up the tab for teammates to see Bruce Springsteen the next and Cruz is buying steaks and lobster for the entire team.
“You’re seeing a lot of guys really enjoying playing the game right now and playing it the right way,” Cano said. “But our manager is making sure that we’re together as a group, especially the young guys. Everyone feels part of the team.”
It’s too early to tell whether the Mariners, who had 31 new players in camp, will be getting in the middle of the Texas RangersHouston Astros Lone Star battle in the American League West. The Mariners think they can contend. But then again, they also thought they could be in the World Series a year ago when they fell flat on their face, going 76-86 and missing the playoffs for the 14th consecutive year.
“We’re going to put behind what we did last year and enjoy this season,” Cano said. “I really like what they’ve done to this team. You never know how it’s going to work out, but I sure like what I see.”
In six months, maybe Cano will like what he has to hear, too.