Why is it OK for Nick Swisher to participate in Monday's Home Run Derby when it was not OK for Robinson Cano?
I've heard all about how the New York Yankees wanted to protect Cano's tender back. But I also distinctly remember the back issue not being raised until the second day of Derbygate. When Cano first got the invite to participate in the derby, manager Joe Girardi and hitting coach Kevin Long talked about the exhausting effort required and the ill effects suffered by some participants in the second half of the season. So why were they so worried about that with Cano, who has the best natural swing of any of the Yankees, yet not nearly as concerned about the impact it could have on Swisher? I would be more worried about Swisher's swing getting all messed up, the way it was during the playoffs last year.
Swisher made sure he got the blessings of Girardi, Long and Brian Cashman before agreeing to participate in the derby, but I don’t like the fact that he even asked, especially since he must have heard about the concerns expressed earlier in the week by his manager and hitting coach about Cano’s participation. But it seems like Swisher got their approval pretty easily and that points to a bad double standard by the Yankees. I wonder what Cano thinks about that.
Let me just say I'm not a fan of the HR Derby. I don't like the way it has overshadowed the All-Star game. And I didn't vote for Swisher several hundred times to watch him take batting practice for a couple of hours. If it were up to me, none of the Yankees would participate in the derby. I thought the Yankees were right to pull Cano out of the contest. But they shouldn’t have given Swisher their blessings to swing for the fences.
I've heard all about how the New York Yankees wanted to protect Cano's tender back. But I also distinctly remember the back issue not being raised until the second day of Derbygate. When Cano first got the invite to participate in the derby, manager Joe Girardi and hitting coach Kevin Long talked about the exhausting effort required and the ill effects suffered by some participants in the second half of the season. So why were they so worried about that with Cano, who has the best natural swing of any of the Yankees, yet not nearly as concerned about the impact it could have on Swisher? I would be more worried about Swisher's swing getting all messed up, the way it was during the playoffs last year.
Swisher made sure he got the blessings of Girardi, Long and Brian Cashman before agreeing to participate in the derby, but I don’t like the fact that he even asked, especially since he must have heard about the concerns expressed earlier in the week by his manager and hitting coach about Cano’s participation. But it seems like Swisher got their approval pretty easily and that points to a bad double standard by the Yankees. I wonder what Cano thinks about that.
Let me just say I'm not a fan of the HR Derby. I don't like the way it has overshadowed the All-Star game. And I didn't vote for Swisher several hundred times to watch him take batting practice for a couple of hours. If it were up to me, none of the Yankees would participate in the derby. I thought the Yankees were right to pull Cano out of the contest. But they shouldn’t have given Swisher their blessings to swing for the fences.
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