New York Yankees Can’t Afford To Wait For Robinson Cano To Sign

Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees want to bring Robinson Cano back, and he would like to come back. Cano wants to make more money than anyone in the game, while the Yankees are going to offer him what they feel he’s worth.

Cano is said to not have any offers from teams not named the Yankees, and it’s also been said that Cano’s agents haven’t spoken with the Bombers recently – Yankees principal owner Hal Steinbrenner is expected to meet with Cano’s agents possibly this week, though.

John Harper of the NY Daily News wrote in a column Friday that Cano is willing to drag out his contract negotiations until Christmas, and even into January.

“He’s ready for this to go past Christmas, into January if necessary,” a person close to Cano told Harper.. “He’s been told all along that it could take time for a market to develop for him, and he’s fine with that.”

If that turns out to be the case, then the Yankees will only have two choices: They can either make Cano an offer that he can’t refuse, or they’re going to have to move on and sign the free-agents that are out there before they aren’t anymore.

“He wants his money, that’s the bottom line,” the same person told Harper. “He wants to be a Yankee, but only if he gets the money he wants.”

Many executive around the league expect that Cano will re-sign the Yankees, but the big question is obviously when it will happen, and for how much?

Months ago, the Yankees made him an offer reportedly in the $170 million range to span over six to seven years, while Cano’s agents apparently asked the Yankees during the All-Star Break for a monster contract worth ten-years at $305 million. If both of those numbers are correct, then Cano and the Yankees are about $130-140 million apart, leaving a lot of ground to close up.

It’s not all about the fact that the Yankees don’t believe he’s worth that kind of money, but we’ve seen in the past, and the Yanks are experiencing the same thing with A-Rod, when you shell out a ten-year deal to a player in his 30’s, there’s a good chance it won’t go the team’s way.

The Yankees, may already be waiting until almost Christmas to know whether or not they’ll have Alex Rodriguez next season, currently don’t know if they should sign a free-agent for third base, or wait until something happens with A-Rod then play it out from there.

Adding the question mark at second base on top of that would makes filling out a roster for 2014 a little more difficult, especially when the Yankees are trying to get the payroll under $189 million for luxury tax purposes.

Obviously the Yankees aren’t just going to let Cano walk, but if they feel that he’s taking too long to sign, they might want to sign a free-agent like Omar Infante because another team eats him up.

Even if it’s not from the Yankees, you can expect, and Cano’s agents are also expecting, that there will be at least one team that’s willing to throw everything they have at him and give him a deal worth over $200 million.

The longer it takes for a team to rise, though, the more it hurts the Yankees. Like re-signing Joe Girardi, the Yanks want to get this over with as soon as possible, but meeting his demands isn’t the way they want it to end.

If the Yankees wait until Cano signs somewhere else to find a second baseman to fill his shoes, they better hope that day comes sooner rather than later. The longer they wait, the more they risk losing out on all of the decent second baseman on the market, and if that happens, making the playoffs in 2014 becomes a goal much harder to accomplish.

Either give him what he wants, wait it out until the end, or face losing everyone all together.

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