(The following is being syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)
When he wasn’t busy trying to pull non-existent wool over the eyes of us Yankee fans or slapping us in the face with his bulging money clip, Hal Steinbrenner did take some time the other day last week to comment on the upcoming contract situations for Joe Girardi and Robinson Cano. Both of them enter 2013 in the final year of their current deals, and in typical Yankee fashion Hal played the “we don’t do extensions” card. That’s not surprising knowing how the Yankees do business when it comes to new contracts, but considering they’re already changing the way they do business by trying to scale back payroll, it would be wise to loosen up the standards on the extension front as well.
Girardi has done a very good job in his time as Yankee manager. He’s experienced the highs of winning a World Series title and the lows of not even making the playoffs. He’s won games and he’s lost games, and he knows what it’s like to manage in this town under the pressure of annual championship expectations. According to Hal, those expectations still stand even with the Yankees limiting their ability to build the best team possible, so what sense does it make to let Joe go through 2013 as a lame duck when he’s the best candidate to be at the helm of a team going through this transition?
As far as Cano is concerned, it’s pretty simple. The only chance the Yankees have of re-signing him for less than market value is to negotiate an extension now. Once this season is over and Cano hits the open market, teams like the Dodgers are going to get involved and drive his price way up. And with Scott Boras handling things, you know he’s going to make sure Cano gets every last cent available. Anything the Yankees can do to keep that cost down helps them in their quest to get under $189 million in 2014, so it’s to their benefit to be open to extension talks with Cano now. To stick to their traditional way of doing things would be shortsighted and foolish.
“The Yankee way” is a tradition that’s already in the process of being changed. If Hal wants to be more strict about limiting the payroll budget, he needs to counter that by being more flexible in the things that allow him to maintain that budget, like in-season extensions. That’s not even a baseball decision, that’s just smart business.
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11 Responses to Extensions For Joe & Cano Should Be A Priority
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TIQ IQ
I don’t think they’d save a dime by negotiating with Cano now.
He’s a Boras client. They are looking to break records with this contract, and Cano has already indicated he is not willing to give the Yankees any discount. The only way Cano would sign now is if the Yankees match their exorbitant demands
Their only chance at signing Cano to a reasonable deal (relatively speaking)is to let him test the market next offseason and find out he’s not valued as highly as he expected.
(Just a year ago they were talking about $175m for Hamilton, and he ended up getting far less)
Girardi SUCKS! I never want to see that turd in a Yankees uniform again. I would fire him NOW!
And replace him with who?
I would be okay with Dave Miley. There are others that could do a much better job then the useless Girardi.
Oh right, Joe Girardi is irreplaceable.
Lou Pinella – that’s one off the top of my head.
Tony Pena
Why should girardi get an extention? They’re paying him to mix and match and make every move by the book. If yanks don’t do much this year he better be gone. He is NOT a good manager. Torre used to go with his gut move but girardi just looks at a piece of paper
I have no problem with letting Girardi’s contract expire at the season’s end. I don’t care for his managing style. He makes too many mistakes, rests players at worst times (like when they are on hot streaks), pulls pitchers who are pitching effortlessly, and some game situation decisions are suspect. The guy I have always wanted to see manage the Yankees is Willie Randolph.
As far as Cano goes…if he is a Yankee after the trading deadline then the Steinbrenners and Cashman are IDIOTS. There is no way that Boras is going to go for a contract extension. The Yankees are going to have many needs come 2014. Here is short list: catcher, 3 starting pitchers, a centerfielder, a heir apparent at SS and a DH. Keeping Cano (and Granderson for that matter) is foolish. The Yankees can extract high quality major league talent or major league ready talent at the trading deadline from teams looking for a player of Cano’s caliber to put them over the top. The Yankees could get at least 6 players from trading Cano and Granderson. It would help fill needs for 2014 and help us get younger at the same time. Keeping Cano for the full 2013 season is foolishness. The end result is Cano with a ridiculous long term contract or a sandwich draft pick between the first and second rounds. UGH. Cano is not the type of player to make the face of the franchise. He is no Jeter. I don’t think he bleeds Yankee pinstripes either. Please Yankees be smart, be bold, be forward looking…TRADE CANO AND GRANDERSON.
ooops forgot one important thing the Yankees will need in 2014….a closer!!
They should trade Cano now really. I think a trade at this point is where they would get the most return. You don’t get much for a 2 month rental. Just a thought.
The yankees need youth and canos the youngest player on their starting lineup besides gardner. They need to trade granderson and hughes for a outfielder and pitching. Keep cano maybe if cashman wasnt an idiot and waisted 25 mill combined on youk and ichiros contracts (14 m and 10 mill) they could of resigned abanez and chavez for 5 mill and then sign the catcher tht sined with texas( sorry dont know how to pronounce his last name but his first name is aj)
Are you nuts!!!! Gerkardi is a bonehead who makes some of the dumbest decisions. As for Cano, he should be traded along with Granderbum for some prime young talent. What good would would it do to keep him and surround him with graybeards. The Cubs did that a lot of years a go, two stars and the rest toxic waste, look what it got them. Time to bite the bullet and rebuild would, what good would another early playoff exit do.