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Yankees Won't Wait For Cano Before Pursuing Other Free Agents
Reports have indicated that Robinson Cano is willing to wait until January to get the deal that he's looking for, but don't expect the Yankees to exercise similar patience. Yankees president Randy Levine told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that the team is interested in five or six free agents and doesn't plan on waiting for resolution on the Cano front before making offers:
"We're not waiting around," Levine said. "If guys start to come off the board, we're going to sign them, which will affect the amount of money we have left for other players including [Cano]."
The Yankees have been connected to Jhonny Peralta, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Stephen Drew recently, and Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger quotes Levine as saying that the team is engaged in talks with some of its own free agents as well. Presumably, that would include the likes of Hiroki Kuroda and Curtis Granderson.
McCullough points to an MLB Network Radio appearance by agent Brodie Van Wagenen over the weekend in which Van Wagenen pointed out the "additional business value that comes with an association with a player of that magnitude" and called Cano a "transformative" player. However, according to McCullough, the Yankees don't feel that Cano has the same level of marketability that stalwarts Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera have brought to the table.
McCullough adds that the Yankees are also skeptical that much of a market exists for Cano at this time, given his asking price. Indeed, Cano's camp couldn't have been thrilled to lose a suitor when the Dodgers inked Cuban second baseman Alexander Guerrero to a four-year, $28MM contract. While some have speculated that they could still enter the fray, Yahoo's Tim Brown tweeted earlier today that the Dodgers are still not involved in the Cano market.
The Mets had a meeting with Van Wagenen and Jay-Z last night, but reports have indicated that they won't be serious players for his services. Asked by Feinsand if the Mets could sign Cano away from the Yankees, Levine replied: "Yes. For $300MM they can ... We want Robbie Cano back. We think the offer we made him is very competitive and it shows that we want him to be a Yankee for a long time and be the face of the franchise. But until they come down from the $300 million, there's really nothing to talk about."
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