Seattle Mariners willing to offer Robinson Cano 10-years, $230MM

Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

A few days ago, the Seattle Mariners were reported to have emerged as a surprise team that could possibly sweep Robinson Cano away from the New York Yankees.

Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com is reporting the Cano flew to Seattle on Thursday, and the Mariners told him they are willing to offer ten-years, $230-$240 million, far, far from what the Yankees, or any other team for that matter, have offered him so far. The Yankees, so far, haven’t felt threatened by any other teams making a competitive offer to Cano because of what he’s asking for, but I’d say this qualifies as a competitive offer.

Cano is seeking a deal within the ten-year, $250-$260 range, and who knows if he’s willing to sign with the Mariners at that price, given the amount of money the Yankees already spent this off-season to improve the ball club.

What the report from ESPN doesn’t say, is how interested in the Mariners Cano actually is, or whether he is just trying to put pressure on the Yankees to offer him a better deal than the seven-year, $175 million contract they have been standing firm at.

The Yankees have said they don’t plan to go past the seven-years they have been offering, and also have no plans to offer anything starting with a “2.”

The Mariners haven’t made the playoffs since 2001, and the Yankees have won 27 championships in franchise history, including 2009 with Cano as a member of the club. So whether Cano actually wants to play in Seattle is yet to be seen.

At 31-years-old, Cano is regarded as the best second baseman in the game, and has posted a career batting line of .309/.355/.504 hitter with 204 homers. His durability has also been a big part of his game, since he has played at least 156 games in each of the past seven seasons.

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