After years of spending top dollar on top-tier free agents, the New York Yankees want to cut their payroll in 2014. That might cost them Robinson Cano.
The 30-year-old second baseman is set to become a free agent after the 2013 season and is looking to sign a contract similar to that of Alex Rodriguez‘s current deal with the Yankees. While Cano is in the prime of his career and arguably the best player on the New York roster, he may very well end up on a different team in 2014.
The New York Daily News reports that numerous sources predict that Cano will play somewhere other than New York after next season.
“I don’t think he’ll be with the Yankees beyond next season,” one of the sources told the Daily News. “He’s not giving them a hometown discount, and they seem to be more interested in keeping their payroll down than winning.”
Cano is represented by Scott Boras, and the agent is very aware of the way the Yankees do business.
“I think the Yankee policy is very clear, that they always walk through the contracts and then address them when they end, as they did with Jeter and other players,” Boras said. “We just will get [Cano] ready to play the season, play out the season and then evaluate things at the end of ’13.”
Since 2009, Cano has averaged .314 with 29 home runs and 102 RBIs. He has established himself as one of the premier infielders and pure hitters in MLB during that time.
At the age of 30, he may not get the mega contract that Rodriguez signed in 2007, but Cano is going to get paid. It’s just a matter of how much and by who.
