In my mind he was a player who struggled early but got better as he aged, until time took it's inevitable toll, those are always fun players to watch. A fine career and a great player to root for both in KC and Milwaukee, and of course he was a key component of KC's World Series win in 2015. This year he was teammates with Andrew McCutcheon, just about the same age and a similar player as both are/were speedy centerfielders with a little pop, though McCutcheon has/had a little bit more of both. It's quite possible that this is McCutcheon's last year as well.

Quite the player, despite the very slow start. Yet another guy who might have done more without the pandemic. Hell of a lot of fun at his best.

A player I enjoyed a ton during his prime Royals years.

If he doesn't want to continue with his career, one would hope the Royals will sign him, activate him and allow him to have a standing ovation for one last time at Kauffmann Stadium, before he retires for good.

Loved watching him as a baseball fan. Hated watching him as a Cubs fan.

seconding #4, but as a cleveland fan

Great career. Peak was Hall-of-Very-Good, just missing a little bulk.

6.9 WAR his first season with Milwaukee, just 4.7 WAR over the next 4 seasons, 1086 PA, a lot of missed time.

Total 11.6 WAR on a 5 year, 80M contract, plus 15 post season games, 68 PA batting .242/.288/.307, .594 OPS

How would you rate these contract results ?

7: FWIW you talk to anyone around the club which is a very analytically centric org and to a person they say without Cain the Brewers as regular contenders never happens. Call it whatever his influence was across the team players and coaches. When you joined the Brewers with Cain you gained an experience. More than a profession

Not my words. Just relaying what was shared with me

David Stearns is also on record that the contract was worth it after two seasons

Feel free to call BS.

I can accept that, but obviously there is a tipping point when it comes to intangibles like that.....otherwise they don't DFA him.

just 4.7 WAR over the next 4 seasons, 1086 PA, a lot of missed time.

That's a bit of a reductive way of looking it.

Season 2 of the contract was a full season: 148 G, 2.6 WAR, 0.7 WAA. Not excess value on a $16m contract, but still a good player.
Season 3 was 5 games then opted out for COVID; I think that means he didn't get paid? Special circumstances.
Season 4 he was hurt a lot, only 78 games. But 2.2 WAR, 1.3 WAA. Pro-rated to a full season that's 4.4 WAR, 2.6 WAA. That's still really good.
This season he was really bad.

One of my favorite Royals of all-time. Injuries really robbed him of a Hall of Very Good career. Couldn't stay healthy early in his career and didn't really get started til age 27.

Also a great example of steering African-American athletes towards baseball. He only tried out for baseball because he got cut from the basketball team in HS, and didn't know a lot of the nuances of the game (the legend was in his first practice he wore a left-handed glove, because he didn't know you were supposed to wear the glove on the hand you didn't throw with). He sat the bench his junior year. They guy would end up as one of the best defensive outfielders of his era, finish 3rd in MVP voting in 2015, and had the best display of baserunning I've ever seen in Game 6 of the ALCS when he scored from first on a single.

Class act all the way, loved seeing his smile in centerfield and his amazing catches on a nightly basis.

don't know anything about Cain, other than that he was terrible this year but the accolades that he is getting are exceeding his career WAR - which, in the end, should be a satisfying tribute for any player/person.

Godspeed, Lorenzo Cain.

Cain, 36, was hitting .179 in 145 at-bats while the Brewers’ offense struggled throughout June...
...The move comes on the same date that Cain reached 10 years of major league service.

That's quietly a very classy move by the Brewers.

Cain is no longer able.

had the best display of baserunning I've ever seen in Game 6 of the ALCS when he scored from first on a single.

Bautista made a good play out there to turn Hosmer's would be double into a single . . . but Cain scored anyway. Dang.

Great career. Peak was Hall-of-Very-Good, just missing a little bulk.

Lorenzo Cain was ranked #679 in the BBF Ranking Game, between George Kell and Harold Baines. So, probably not quite HOVG for overall career. More like the HOG.

Hopefully a direct link to Cain't mad dash.

what's the bbf ranking game - one of those vote for A or B scenarios?

also, i didn't know baseball fever was still a thing! there was some useful stuff on that board, once upon a time. (maybe still)

Bautista made a good play out there to turn Hosmer's would be double into a single . . . but Cain scored anyway. Dang.

If Bautista had thrown toward the cutoff man on the first base line, rather than go to second with it, Cain likely isn't sent.

The Royals had scouted Bautista and knew he liked to cut off players from taking second on a ball like that, and took advantage.

The next August, while scouting the Blue Jays and Yankees in Toronto, Zumwalt noted a pattern. On balls hit down the right-field line, Bautista often airmailed the cutoff man and threw directly to second base. Zumwalt saw Bautista do it during a game. He looked up video from other games. The pattern held. Bautista, a six-time All-Star and fearsome hitter, used his arm to prevent extra-base hits.

That created an opening, though, if there was someone on base.

Hosmer also had to sell like he was going to second. Anyway, great play, great run. LoCain was awesome.

what's the bbf ranking game - one of those vote for A or B scenarios?

also, i didn't know baseball fever was still a thing! there was some useful stuff on that board, once upon a time. (maybe still)

The BBF Ranking Game is a project designed to rank every player in history. So far we have ranked the top 1,260 players. Here's the first thread:

Project Proposal - The BBF Ranking Game

Here's the current thread:

BBF Ranking Game - Election #106 - Voting

And a spinoff project:

BBF Ranking Game v2.0 – Election No. 12 – Vote for 4

It would be fun to do the Ranking Game here at BBTF, especially with the MMP Project having recently wrapped. The game runs itself, it just needs a moderator to start each thread and tally the voting results.

A really, really fun player.

Amazing on defense, in the sense that you would literally be amazed once every week or two by some of the catches he made.

So, probably not quite HOVG for overall career. More like the HOG.

He's not knocking on the door to the HOF or anything, but there are very few teams in history that wouldn't have a spot for peak Lorenzo Cain.

Lorenzo Cain was ranked #679 in the BBF Ranking Game, between George Kell and Harold Baines. So, probably not quite HOVG for overall career. More like the HOG.

Between Kell and Baines? Then he’s a Hall of Famer!

sigh, I'm 2 1/2 hours too late to post that Kell/Baines joke - and it sat on a tee for almost 8 hours!

Yeah, I was surprised it was still there. Had to scroll a couple times to make sure.

it had to be done by somebody, for sure

:)