The ink has officially dried on the 10-year, $240 million contract that five-team All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano recently signed to join the Seattle Mariners. In his introductory press conference with the Mariners, Cano stated the he felt “disrespected” by his former employer in the New York Yankees. Cano spent the first nine seasons of his Major League Baseball career with the Yankees and he appeared to be a lifer in New York. Cano entered the 2013 Major League Baseball season in the last season of his contract, but you almost felt that the second baseman and the Yankees would indeed work out a long-term deal. In last season’s spring training Cano announced that he wanted to wait until the end of the season to negotiate a deal which usually means that a player is looking to leave his current team.
Cano went out and had a typical Cano-type season in 2013 as he had a .314 batting average to go along with 27 home runs and 107 runs batted in. Cano did this primarily on a Yankee team that was decimated by injuries all season.
Cano shocked most baseball pundits when he decided to ditch his long time agent in Scott Boras in favor of Roc Nation Sports which is led by rap sensation Jay-Z.
The market was set for Cano at second base last summer when Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia agreed to a seven-year, $110 million extension to remain in Bean town.
Reports soon surfaced that Cano and his camp were seeking a 10-year deal in the range of $305 million. Cano is 31-years old and recent baseball history has shown that it is not wise for team to give a player over the age of 30 a deal in the area of 10 years. The Yankees left a seven-year, $170 million deal on the table for Cano, but it only takes one team to drive up the price for the services of a player. When the Mariners came calling, Cano and Jay-Z called the Yankees bluff, but Yankee owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner didn’t bite.
Did Cano simply feel disrespected due to the fact that the Yankees recently signed former Red Sox outfielder to a seven-year, $153 million deal while he has yet to do anything in Yankee pinstripes like Cano who did help the Bronx Bombers win the World Series in 2009? Ellsbury is 30-years of age and he took a seven-year deal as he understood the market. To me Cano felt that he would have had more leverage due to the fact that Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is 39-years of age and his skills are diminishing. With the Yankees looking for a new face of the franchise Cano figured that the Yankees wouldn’t have a choice but to give him what he wanted, but obviously that wasn’t the case.
In reality Cano was not supposed to leave the Yankees; especially when we are talking about a homegrown talent like he was. Although Cano was offered a seven-year deal from the Yankees, I am sure that between now and when the contract were to expire that the team would’ve worked out an extension to keep Cano in pinstripes to finish his MLB career. It has been done before with likes of Jeter and former Yankee players in Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada to remain in the Bronx to finish out their MLB careers. But Cano took the upfront guarantee which you cannot be mad at.
If this were the old version of the Yankees led by former owner George Steinbrenner, Cano would have never even gotten to free agency. Until his death in 2010, George Steinbrenner regretted allowing outfielder Reggie Jackson to leave the Yankees as a free agent in 1982 and for as long that he ran the team after that he kept a tight grip on his stars. George Steinbrenner’s sons Hank and Hal do not run the Yankees in the same manner as their father as they are more prudent with the money.
Cano got his feelings hurt, but the Yankee organization doesn’t hold any ill will towards their former second baseman as the game of baseball is indeed a business. The Yankees were desperate for a catcher this off-season which is why they signed Brian McCann to a five-year, $85 million contract and the same could be said for their signing of Ellsbury. The Mariners were extremely desperate to once again become relevant as they have not made the playoffs since 2001 which is why Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik went above and beyond the call of duty to sign Cano.
Some fans of the Yankees have and will continue to feel hurt and betrayed by Cano for going to the Pacific Northwest as fans tend to get upset when one of the players on their favorite team leaves town. Sports as a whole has changed since free agency was established in the 1970’s. Gone are the days when a player would spend his entire career with one team. Owners don’t have loyalty to players so why should players have loyalty to the owners? Cano did what any logical person would do; he took the best offer that was produced. The Mariners might not be a World Series contender in 2014, but Cano has already won a championship and it was time for him to get paid.
I am sure that by the time Cano’s MLB career is over things will be hashed out with him and the Yankees. 20 years from now Cano will be front and center at Old-Timers’ Day in the Bronx with other former Yankee players. Cano shouldn’t feel disrespected by the Yankees and their fans shouldn’t feel disrespected by Cano.
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