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Jose Cano (r.) best known for pitching to Robinson in the 2011 Home Run Derby – which the Yankee won – says the Bombers don’t seem very interested in keeping his son.
The Yankees insist they want Robinson Cano to remain part of their pinstriped family. The patriarch of Cano’s actual family isn’t convinced that’s the case.
“The Yankees don’t seem to want him,” Jose Cano told the Daily News when asked about his son’s status with the Yankees.
The Yankees want him back, but the Mariners appear to be doing everything in their power to pry the All-Star second baseman away from New York.
Multiple reports Thursday night indicated the Mariners were readying a nine-year offer worth $ 225 million for Cano, who was on a plane headed for Seattle to meet with club officials.
A $ 225 million offer would dwarf the Yankees’ current seven-year offer of $ 165-170 million, leaving the Mariners more than $ 50 million ahead of the Bombers.
Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News
Cano is about to be offered a $ 225 million deal by the Mariners, but will that be enough to lure him all the way to the Pacific Northwest from the Bronx?
The Yankees have maintained for weeks that they won’t give Cano 10 years or $ 300 million as his agents requested during the season, but even as his demands have dropped – he recently asked for a nine-year, $ 260 deal with a $ 28 million vesting option for a 10th year – the Yankees have steadfastly held to their seven-year proposal.
An industry official told the Daily News earlier this week that a $ 200 million offer from the Yankees was “never going to happen,” adding, “If that’s the offer and he wants to go there, he’s going to be a Mariner.”
Hal Steinbrenner said Thursday that Cano remained one of the Yankees’ top priorities.
“Look, we’re still talking,” Steinbrenner said. “Nobody has given up. We’re still talking, but obviously we’re a decent distance apart. We’re just going to have to see, day by day. That’s all we can do.”
General manager Brian Cashman said the Yankees have been trying to sign Cano, though he acknowledged that his club has “a lot of needs” he’s had to focus on at the same time.
Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News
Brian Cashman, speaking at Brian McCann’s introductory presser on Thursday afternoon in the Bronx, says the Yankees do want Cano back.
“We would love to have him,” Cashman said. “Just like we took Brian McCann right now from the Braves and every other suitor because we were willing to pay a certain amount, that certainly could happen to us in the Robbie Cano sweepstakes. That’s the way the process works.
“Some people wind up signing elsewhere for more money than the home club was willing to give, and other players can take discounts to stay if they have better offers. Sometimes you find common ground and get a deal done. I can’t tell you how this is going to shake out just yet. He’s a great player, he’s been a great Yankee, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him.”
Cashman confirmed that he’s met in recent weeks with both Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA and with Jay Z, whose Roc Nation Sports inked Cano as its first client back in April.
Hal Steinbrenner said he hopes the Yankees will have a chance to match any offer Cano receives, but Cashman said there is no guarantee that will be the case.
“At the end of the day, usually it just comes down to the financials and where we sit versus the field,” Cashman said. “I don’t know what the field is doing and how they’re doing and what people are willing to do, I just know at the end of the day, we will have or have put forward already offers that we are very comfortable with and higher than where we thought we would be to try to retain him.”
Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News
Jose Cano, father of Robinson , with Juan Perez, President of Roc Nation Sports.
One American League executive said he would not be surprised to see Seattle push its offer well past $ 200 million, as the Mariners are desperate for a big-name signing to spark the sagging fan base.
“They have the money,” the executive said. “They just have to find the player willing to take it.”
The perception inside the industry has been that Cano would ultimately take the best offer, something Cashman verbalized at the general managers meetings when he said of Cano, “He loves the money.”
The Yankees, who remain engaged with multiple free agents, aren’t putting any deadline on Cano to make a decision, but Steinbrenner indicated that at some point the sides will each have to move forward.
“Robbie is one of the best players in baseball, no doubt about it,” Steinbrenner said. “He’s been a great player and he’s been a great Yankee. We’re going to keep plugging away until it either happens or it doesn’t.
“At some point he’s going to come to a point where he realizes he has to make a decision.”
