Readers Thread: Looking Back- When Robinson Cano Went to Seattle
January 14, 2024
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A series of discussions came up the other day in the comments regarding the fact that the Yankees did not re-sign Robinson Cano before the 2014 season. The Seattle Mariners made a big offer, blowing the Yankees' offer away - and Cano went to Seattle.
Looking back, many are happy that the Yankees didn't sign Cano. The last years of his career weren't so wonderful...
On the other hand, by not signing Cano, the Yankees pivoted and signed Jacoby Ellsbury. The Yankees also went through a few seasons where they didn't have a quality second baseman. They had no back-up plan for losing Cano.
In retrospect, would the Yankees have been better off resigning Robinson Cano?
We look forward to seeing the various perspectives from our readers in respectful dialogue and debate.
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The Yankees made a top of the line offer to get Cano to return. But if I remember correctly, he was Roc Nation's first, or just 1st MLB client, and they walked into the meeting with Cano. We all know had George had been running the meeting from the Yankees, and no Cano, meeting over and George would've gone on the record and said whatever offer the Yankees had to Cano, was now gone. Well, Seattle, looking for a little respectability, after how they handled Jesus Montero & the scout, gave Cano a contract betting against themselves, offered hi a contract no one else would even think about. Plus at the same time, he was doing Barry Bonds type- s…
I think I spent more time trying to find this comment to copy and paste it than it took me to write it!
Let's see, pay for 10 great years, get 2. Although, to be fair, they would have saved a whole year and a half while getting lucky that Cano got caught juicing TWICE. So maybe it's pay for 8 1/2 great years, get 2. Either way, it's a really bad business model, kinda like Giancarlo Stanton's contract/performance ratio on steroids (pun intended).
Now let's look at those years. 2014, Roberts and Martin Prado combined for 2.8 WAR. Cano was 3.5 WAR better, but that doesn't put the Yankees past the A's for the wild card (though I conce…
Of course, if Cano stayed, we would never have had this:
I always thought there was something odd about Cano leaving the Yanks. At that point in his career, he was cruising towards Monument Park and likely the Hall of Fame. He still may be the best second baseman in team history. His bat helped keep a bad team afloat in 2013. He was clearly a great hitter. He could have been a career Yankee. The Yanks love those kind of guys. Alas, they just let him go. Cano said he really didn't feel "respected" by the Yanks. I don't know that the Yanks were outbid as much as they didn't want him. I've always wondered why.
I was away all day (Had a GREAT Book Talk in Florham Park, NJ) so I missed the discussion.
A different perspective than most below:
2014 Yankees = Brian Robers 0.7 WAR
2014 Cano = 6.3 WAR
The Yankees finished 4 games out of the Wild Card.
Does Robinson Cano get them to the playoffs?
How much money do the Yankees make in 2014 in playoff revenue?
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2015 Yankees = Stephen Drew 0.3 WAR
2015 Robinson Cano = 3.5 WAR
Yanks lose Wild Card game
Does Robinson Cano add an element to help the Yankees win that game?
How much do the Yankees lose in playoff revenue?
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2016 Yankees = Starlin Castro 1.2 WAR
2016 Robinson Cano =…