Cano on track for another All-Star appearance

At Pittsburgh's PNC Park, back on July 11, 2006, four Yankees reported to the All-Star Game. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez started at shortstop and third base, respectively. Mariano Rivera picked up the save.

Robinson Cano enjoyed his pregame introduction and then, sidelined by a strained left hamstring, sat in the dugout and took in the game.

"It was a lot of fun," Cano recalled yesterday as the Yankees prepared for their rain-delayed game with the Red Sox. "The guy who surprised me that year was Ichiro. He was pretty funny."

The past three summers, Cano has had leisure time for those three days off in July. But so far this year, the Yankees' second baseman and No. 5 hitter is on a track that should put him at Angel Stadium, in uniform, on July 13.

We've got plenty of time before the All-Star verdicts. Yet as the Yankees host the American League East-leading Rays for the first time Wednesday, a matchup pitting baseball's two best teams, it's worth pointing out that Cano has been the Yankees' best player so far.

"Honestly, every player wants to be in the All-Star Game," Cano said. "You want to say you had a good season. I had a good season last year. It just didn't happen."

Last year, Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist and Toronto's Aaron Hill played second base for the AL All-Stars, and that was after Boston's Dustin Pedroia, voted to start, declined the invitation to be with his pregnant wife. The league is rich with quality second basemen.

At this point, though, Cano has to be a serious candidate. He entered last night's action leading the Yankees in Wins Above Replacement, a measure that utilizes both offensive and defensive calculations and adjusts for positional value, with 1.7. Of the AL second basemen, only Pedroia ranked higher, with 1.8.

Cano, who had a two-run double in the fifth inning last night, appreciates that Yankees and Red Sox fans now debate whose second baseman is better, in the way that they once argued the merits of Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra, or Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk, or Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.

"It's pretty fun," Cano said. "But I just let you guys, and the fans, decide who's better. It's really fun to watch him play. [Pedroia] won an MVP [in 2008]. He deserved it that year, too. He can play."

2008 marked Cano's low point as a major leaguer. He seemed out of sorts all season, finishing with a lousy .305 on-base percentage and .410 slugging percentage, and industry folks wondered whether the Yankees erred by committing to a long-term deal with him. When Joe Girardi finally benched him after a failure to hustle in September, the culmination of a yearlong issue, we understandably wondered what his future would look like.

Cano rebounded with a strong 2009 season, and his current blossoming - hitting higher in the Yankees' lineup, thanks to the departure of Hideki Matsui - makes that four-year, $30-million commitment seem quite reasonable. Cano will make $9 million this year and $10 million next year, and if he maintains this level of production, the Yankees will gladly exercise their team options for $14 million in 2012 and $15 million in 2013.

"If you look, I had only one bad year," Cano said. "I'm happy with everything I'm doing in the big leagues. I feel happy about myself. Winning a World Series, it took me five years to win a ring. A-Rod took 16 years to win a championship. Now, I just want to be with the Yankees for my career."

The next step to that goal, it appears, is actually playing in an All-Star Game. "We'll see what happens," Cano said, but you've got to like his chances.