This Friday Funday column gets us back into the joy of sports rather than the disappointment of the dark side in “competition” these days. Although Robinson Canó was busted for PED use and basically derailed his own career, his statistical profile is still one of interest to us here, and we will examine it today while minimizing the commentary on his choices to violate MLB rules, etc. Life is too short in the end, isn’t it?

Canó was a career .301 hitter with a 68.7 WAR career mark. On the surface, those numbers scream Cooperstown for a second baseman, but the PED issue will keep him out. He started his career with the New York Yankees at age 22 in 2005 with much celebration, hitting .297 and finishing second in the AL ROTY vote. Through his age-30 season in 2013, he hit .309 with an .860 OPS and a combined 44.4 WAR: stellar.

He made $15M in his final season with the Bronx Bombers, after winning a ring with them in 2009. Canó then signed with the Seattle Mariners for 10 years and $240M—a whopping deal at the time, especially considering his age. His first five seasons in Seattle produced a .296 BA and an .826 OPS for a total of 23.9 WAR more, but in that fifth season (2018), he was suspended for 80 games due to PED use. Exit Seattle.

The Mariners were able to dump him on the New York Mets, while picking up a chunk of his annual salary in the process, and in his first season with the Mets (2019), Canó hit just .256 at age 36 to the tune of 0.7 WAR value. His career looked over, basically, but then he rebounded in 2020 to hit .316 during the short Covid season (49 games). His .896 OPS in that abbreviated year was his highest since the 2013 season.

It was too good to be true, as he was suspended for a full season (2021) due to a second PED violation. His final season (2022) at age 39 was a disaster, as three different teams took a chance on him one last time: the Mets, the San Diego Padres, and the Atlanta Braves—who would go on to win the World Series without him on the roster. He hit a combined .150 in 100 combined ABs, and that was the end of the Canó’s time in MLB.

With a 7.6 dWAR for his career, he was a two-time Gold Glove winner (2010, 2012) who also topped the AL in dWAR once, too (2007, 2.8). His whole profile screams Hall of Fame, as he ranks seventh all time at his position. If we removed the knowledge of his PED suspensions from the statistical profile, it would be just like a semi-normal descent in mid-30s seasons from peak to endgame, kind like a Miguel Cabrera profile.

Alas, we know what we know, and that is that. Interestingly enough, though, he never led his league in any statistical categories, and the 127 OPS+ he managed through his time in Seattle isn’t super high, either. Canó was a really good hitter at a position where there usually are not a lot of good hitters, and his defense was quite decent, too. How much of all that came from the PEDs, we will never know, though. It is what it is.