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| ROBINSON CANO |
The 10-year contract is worth $240 million, according to ESPN.
The deal came after two sources said negotiations between Cano and the Mariners had broken down over the Cano’s camp financial over-reach. Instead, Seattle apparently has given Cano what ties Albert Pujols for the third-most ever bestowed on a player.
Only Alex Rodriguez’s pacts for 10 years at $252 million and 10 years at $275 million exceed what the Mariners have lavished upon Cano.
The Yanks suddenly find life easier in getting under their $189 million mandate, but tougher in actually putting an elite team on the field. They lost the player who has been their best hitter.
What can the Yanks do now?
They have looked at Omar Infante at second base. They could try to bolster their offense by signing Shin-Soo Choo and making Alfonso Soriano a primary DH. They also could invest more in pitching. They came to agreement on a one-year, $16 million reunion contract with Hiroki Kuroda on Thursday night, and now they have the dollars available to chase Masahiro Tanaka.
Nevertheless, the loss of Cano – at least in the short term – is painful. He hit .314 last year with 27 homers and 107 RBIs. The signings of Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury ease the pain of the loss somewhat, but it is two steps forward, one step back – at best – right now for the organization.
The Yanks had made Cano a seven-year, $175 million offer, sources told The Post. Cano requested 10 years at $252 million. And the gap was just not able to be closed.
The Yanks worried that Cano, who just turned 31, was not worth that kind of risk. Also, they felt the lessons learned from giving A-Rod a 10-year deal in his thirties needed to be honored. They insisted throughout the process they would not go to 10 years and they would not go to $200 million or above. They held to their word — but lost an elite homegrown player in his prime, which had not previously happened during Steinbrenner ownership.
Cano traveled cross-country on Thursday to join Jay Z to meet with Mariner officials, and that became symbolic that negotiations had moved from discussions to something much more significant. Seattle already had bumped its original offer of around $200 million up to nine years at $225 million.
The Mariners were a desperate team with lots of money to spend. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2001. They had four straight losing seasons. They had attendance basically cut in half in the last decade, down to 1.76 million last year.
They also had the perception of a place where quality hitters would not go of their own volition. In the past two offseason, they had high-profile spurns by Prince Fielder, Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton. They were going to need to pay big to get a star – and they have done that with Cano.
It has formed an interesting marriage. Cano had loved being a Yankee, having the chance to create a legacy with the franchise for which that matters most, hitting in a park that fits his swing ideally and being close to his Dominican home and the large Dominican community in Washington Heights.
The Mariners offered none of that. In fact, they play in one of the worst hitter’s parks in the sport and are as far away from the Dominican as exists on the baseball landscape.
But the money differential was just too great. Seattle was willing with finances to treat Cano like a historically great player.
So, suddenly, the Yankees are in the second-base market.
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