It's hard to imagine that swing in another uniform.
At the end of the 2013 season the Yankees will face a dilemma. Should they make a mega contract offer to Robinson Cano or not? On one level, this seems like a no-brainer. Cano is one of the ten best players in baseball since 2009 and the best on the Yankees. He’s starting to show Hall of Fame potential as his career progresses. That’s a player the Yankees keep.
On the other hand, players at Cano’s position don’t age well (Roberto Alomar, who dropped off after his age 33 season is a prime example). The Yankees are trying to cut costs. Cano turns 31 this October. Some team is going to offer him at least $120 million. The Yankees may justifiably decide to let that team pay Cano to decline as he enters his mid thirties.
His ghastly post season aside, Robinson Cano currently projects as the heart of the Yankee lineup, the only superstar hitter in his prime that the team still has. Trading him probably isn’t something Brian Cashman is giving much weight … now. But it is important to remember that the Yankees won’t bring back the same team that had the best record in the American League the past two seasons. Nick Swisher is gone. Rafael Soriano is gone. Alex Rodriguez isn’t coming back anytime soon. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have inserted themselves into an AL East discussion that already includes high ceiling teams in Tampa Bay and Baltimore. If the Yankees don’t look like contenders come the trade deadline, don’t be surprised if Cano’s name is mentioned. Even as a rental he has the potential to bring back high value while helping the Yankees cut costs.
For my part, I would begin contract discussions with Scott Boras (Cano’s agent) as soon as possible. A deal may not get done but it would give Cashman a sense of the figures Cano has in mind. If the Yankees could convince him to take a three or four year deal, even at an inflated annual salary, then he’s worth keeping. But if Cano is looking at five, six or even seven years he may not be worth the gamble. In that case, the Yankees should weigh trading him. It wouldn’t be a popular move, just maybe the right one.
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19 Responses to Would you trade Robinson Cano?
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The Yankees don’t need to speak to Boras to know that he will seek a minimum of seven years for Cano. Five years or less is a non-starter. Boras will happily take Cano onto the open market after the season, precisely because he has been one of the ten best players in the game over the past several years. Sure, Boras may end up with less than he wants, but he’ll try the market first. He has nothing to lose.
The idea of giving Cano an inflated four-year deal ignores the self-imposed $189 million salary cap for 2014. If the Yankees pay Cano $30+ million (instead of, say, $22 million) in 2014, there is too little left under the cap to put together a contending team. If that is the case, then why spend a fortune on Cano?
Possibly the key down the road lies in the concern that most middle infielders don’t age well. If the Yankees do sign Cano to a long-term deal/extension, they may be envisioning a position change. First base is a possibility after Texeira’s deal is up.
Cano is on the back side of career, or will be next year. Learn from A-Rod, no longterm contracts to players in their 30′s, mix old & young players, and keep players that are cheap & in control of and let overpriced players, Swisher, and now Granderson & Cano go by trading them & getting young talent back.
As much as I like Cano, I really am scared of him still being in NY in 2018 (at $20m+).
I would trade Cano if the Yanks are out of the race in 2013, but the Yankees probably won’t.
I would trade him this offseason. That gives the receiving team the option to at least obtain a comp pick for him after the season. That and his talent should make for a decent return. We have options in house that arent as good as Cano…nowhere near…but still, those options, combined with what’s coming from the farm in the next couple of years will be cheaper and hopefully make up for the loss of Cano’s production (at least most of it).
Huh? No, you resign him. Period. With this logic, the Yankees should have let Jeter go a long time ago. You will never get back the value he represents via a trade. NEVER. To sit here and talk about trading Cano or letting him walk is insanity.
The situations are completely non-analogous. Jeter was in his age 27 season during the first year of his ten year deal.
Its true that you wont replace Cano, but with improvements at other positions, it will help lighten the blow. With Adams, Austin, Heathcott and others coming into the fold…hopefully they can hit as they did in the minors and bring a little more productivity to the lineup to pick up the slack caused by losing Cano.
Anyone who thinks Cano is getting less than 8/$175 is dreaming
Trading Cano makes sense for a number of reasons:
1- You save probably $25 million per year for the next eight or nine years (that’s what someone will give him). That can be invested elsewhere on the team. The Yankees will have lots of holes and $25 million for one ballplayer no matter how good is simply not cost-efficient.
2-Second base is actually a position of relative strength in the system. Nobody is going to replace Cano’s production but David Adams, Angelo Gumbs and even Anderson Feliz all loom as major league options. And I believe Adams could play in the bigs right now.
3- Something tells me (and this is pure speculation) that Cano may yet be drawn in to the PED situation.
4-Many second basemen, from Carlos Baerga to Chuck Knoblauch to Chase Utley have fallen apart well before 35. Other than cather, second base has the lowest career life expectancy.
I wouldn’t give Cano away. But I would certainly trade him if I can get two solid players (one veteran, one prospect). Then I put the money saved to work and wind up maybe with four — or at least three — contributing players in place of Cano.
Re your point #3. It seems to me that an awful lot of players from the Dominican Republic have been linked to steroids. That doesn’t prove anything about Cano, but it’s enough for heightened suspicion.
No, it’s not.
I agree the Dominican thing means nothing but… Cano is friends and trained with ARod and Melky… and he did develop quite a bit of surprising power. Certainly not near to proof, but I admit it would not shock me.
The Yanks would be crazy to at least not investigate the potential return a Cano trade would bring. Since the natural position switch to 1B is tied up for the remainder of the millennium, this course of action should be taken regardless of the self imposed, greedy Hal budgetary constraints.
Also, I don’t think I could stomach another faltering mid 30′s guy in a few years. There is, of course, the off chance Cano may age gracefully at 2B like Willie Randolph, but that’s probably not going to happen.
The best way for the Yanks to keep the team affordably competitive is to develop plus players from their system. A properly executed Cano trade could go a long way toward fulfilling that goal.
Gawd, it kills me that Hal Silverspoon is running the team like it has no money. The fool is giving away the Yanks greatest strength.
Cano loses all value once the season starts. If he would be traded, now is the time. The problem with Cano is timing. He should have had the 10 year deal 3 years ago. But he has 3 to 4 great years left and Boras will make sure he get 6-7 years. So someone will get to pay Cano big time money for the last couple years but get not so much when he ages. The Yankees are painting themselves into a smaller and smaller corner every year. Soon they will awaken to needing 6-7 players and have no money because all the 189 will be tied up in the Rod, CC, Tex and Cano. They’ll have 85 mil to fill 21 spots….huuuu-huuuu…..then I wanna hear all the comments from those who swear signing Cano is the only thing to do. We are in deep kimchee…..I blogged weeks ago to dump Grandy and Cano to lower salary and get a bunch of prospects. We’ll see who had more wisdom.
“If the Yankees could convince him to take a three or four year deal, even at an inflated annual salary, then he’s worth keeping.”
There is absolutely no way on god’s green earth that would happen.
I wouldn’t want to trade him, but if Texas wants to send Profar, Martin Perez, and Rougned Odor…
I’d definitely trade him.
He’s not going to sign for anything less than 8 years $185m, and I have no interest in bringing Cano back for a mega deal.
Big long term contracts to players around age 30 don’t work out. Ever.
We currently have 2 on our roster (Arod, Tex)who are killing our flexibility, and Sabathia is probably a year or two away from becoming another strain.
Middle infielders historically don’t age well. Extending Cano would be a bad idea and show that the Yankees haven’t learned from their mistakes.
I expect him to be extended, but I don’t like it.
It would have served cashman well to shop Cano around this offseason and seen what kind of haul he could have gotten. Imagine getting a Myers/Taveras/Profar level prospect in return?
FINALLY!!! I have been posting comments on trading Cano for weeks now. The Yankees are in serious trouble come the end of 2013. Their needs are going to be huge. Now is the time to start building and filling those holes. Catcher, closer, outfielder, 3 starting pitchers, and possibly 3 Base. Derek Jeter will eventually have to be replaced within the next 2-3 yrs. I haven’t heard anything about the Yankees having a hot shot shortstop in their farm system who they are grooming for that eventuality. Trading Cano before the season starts makes sense and while they are at it time to listen to offers for Granderson and Hughes. Cashman is a fool if he is not trying to pursue trading his 3 free agents to be in order to fill his needs come 2014. Letting those three walk for a sandwich draft pick between the 1st and 2nd round of the draft is idiotic, esp when you could get 4-8 players of high value for them now. The suck year is this year or next or both..take your pick. The Yankees have opportunity to get younger, payroll flexibility, and build their farm system by trading Cano, Hughes and Granderson.