Yankees News & Notes: Hal breaks rules, wants Cano back

Throughout my years as a Yankees fan, it has always been a rule that the front office didn’t talk about contract extensions going into the player’s contract year, or any other year of their deal. The Yankees brass has always had a steadfast rule (foolish or not) that they will allow the player to play out their current contract and then come together to negotiate. However, Hal Steinbrenner has broken that rule with one of his superstars.

Yankee for life? We shall see (Image: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports)

According to Wallace Matthews of ESPN.com, the Yankees have reached out to Robinson Cano to discuss a contract extension with the 30-year-old second baseman. Steinbrenner addressed the media about it, saying:

"“There’s been a conversation or two. We’ll get into that and we’ll talk about that at a later date. But he’s been a great Yankee, and [we] hope he’s here his entire career.”"

Cano has indeed been a great Yankee — the only team he’s ever played for — he’s gone on to hit .308/.351/.503 (124 wRC+) over his career and become the best second baseman in the league and perennial MVP candidate. In 2012, he had his best season, hitting .313/.379/.550 (150 wRC+) with 33 HRs and 94 RBI, to go along with 105 runs.

I won’t pretend to throw out a number and amount of years and be confident with them, but you can bet that Cano will get paid handsomely. The one hold up I can foresee is the amount of years. If the new Yankees front office has learned anything, it has been giving long, expensive contracts out to players already in the prime years isn’t the best practice (See: Alex Rodriguez). If the team can hammer out a five-year contract they would presumably get two great years, two good years, and a OK year out of him. All predictions of course.

Personally, I would like to see Cano retire as a Yankee. It’d be very difficult to see him playing in another uniform. I guess the same thing could’ve been said about Boston Red Sox fans and Kevin Youkilis, but obviously we know how that ended up. We’ll know how serious the Yankees are about doling out contracts to aging stars after negotiations with Cano conclude.