The funniest thing I heard with the Yankees and their contract negotiations with Robinson Cano is Scott Boras would take this to the open market to possibly draw the Mets in as an antagonist. That’s what Boras does, and the presence of other teams – some out of the desire to make things difficult for the Yankees – would boost the price.
I laughed out loud when I read one of the teams should be the Mets. Seriously, how could anybody write that and have the readers keep a straight face?
Regardless of Fred Wilpon’s desire to spend money next year, it won’t be on Cano for four significant reasons.
First, the Mets won’t bring in anybody for more than the $138 million package they gave David Wright. He’s a homegrown franchise player and nobody will beat that amount, at least not in the next year. Five years from now, maybe. But, not in 2014.
Secondly, the Yankees would never let them be beaten out by the Mets for a player they both sought. The Mets can’t go toe-to-toe with the Yankees financially regardless of how much money Wilpon wants to spend.
Both the Mets and Yankees wanted Carlos Beltran, but the Yankees cooled at the end. Even after getting his final offer from the Mets, Boras went back to the Yankees one last time. Boras wanted the Bronx, but for that price the Yankees were concerned about Beltran’s mental toughness in the New York market.
Third, if the opening figures are to be believed – $175 million over seven years from the Yankees and a $225 million demand over ten years from Boras – there’s no way the Mets could, or should, compete on that level.
Both numbers are excessive, and the Mets have too many holes that can be filled for that amount.
Which brings us to the final reason: As good as Cano is, he’s not enough to be the missing piece of the puzzle for the Mets. Cano will go to a team capable of winning in the present, not in two or three years. The only exception is Boston. The Red Sox are antagonistic enough to go after Cano in part to aggravate the Yankees, but also know losing him hurts the Yankees. That’s what they did with Bernie Williams andAndy Pettitte, and it is easy to see that happening with Cano.
Cano is a marvelous talent, even if he doesn’t always run out ground balls or work the count, but he’s not worth that much money. Hell, the Yankees would be smart if they told Boras their offer is of the take-it-or-leave-it variety.
Considering how they are being burned by the Alex Rodriguez contract, and the rebuilding they have to do when Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, C.C. Sabathia and Pettitte are gone, they’d be smart to spread those dollars around and let Cano go, even if it meant Boston.
