The Yankees trading for Robinson Cano would be colossally dumb
The reshaping of the Seattle Mariners roster that has started this offseason would reportedly include a trade of star infielder Robinson Cano if general manager Jerry Dipoto gets his way.
While that may not be a surprise to anyone who has already seen the Mariners trade ace James Paxton and catcher Mike Zunino, this part may be surprising: According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Mariners have tried to trade Cano back to the New York Yankees, where he played his first nine seasons and was an All-Star five times.
In his latest column, Rosenthal wrote:
But as Dipoto “reimagines” his roster, he isn’t simply mulling the idea of moving Canó. He’s actively trying to do it, and the Yankees and Mets are two of the teams he has contacted about a trade, according to major-league sources.
Whether Canó would appeal to either New York team — or any team at all, for that matter — is another question entirely, hinging mostly on how much of his deal the Mariners would be willing to absorb.
Earlier this offseason, sources said, the Mariners and Yankees briefly discussed a contract swap involving Canó and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who is owed $47.2 million over the next two years and holds a full no-trade clause.
The Yankees wanted the Mariners to include significant cash in addition to taking Ellsbury, and the talks failed to gain traction, according to one source. Money was but one obstacle: Canó, who probably would need to be a first baseman-DH with his former team, has made just 10 career starts at first, all last season, and the Yankees do not want to tie up their DH spot.
Ellsbury-for-Cano sounds more like a “swap of guys we’re stuck with” than it does a trade either side would terribly excited about. Of the two, Cano is unquestionably more valuable and he has the price tag to match, but it would still be colossally dumb for the Yankees to trade for him.
Even while missing part of the season because of a drug suspension, Cano, 36, was still worth 2.9 Wins Above Replacement, according to Fangraphs. His 2017 total was 3.2 and 2016 he was worth 6.2, his best since 2012 with the Yankees. In the Bronx, he spent most of his career in the six-win range. Meanwhile, Ellsbury, 35, has only had one season above 2.0 WAR since signing with the Yankees.
Still, Cano is clearly on the decline and trading for him now would be an out-of-character move for the Yankees, who still have the reputation as big-money spenders, but they’ve at least proven themselves to be smarter big-money spenders in recent years.
For the sake of the Yankees, let’s hope this how the trade talks went down between Dipoto and GM Brian Cashman:
This is how the Robinson Cano-to-the-Yankees trade talk should have went down pic.twitter.com/5LXMCX1uH4
— Mike Oz (@mikeoz) November 26, 2018
Trading for Cano now would be getting the worst part of his 10-year deal. Modern baseball free-agent contracts by nature usually end with a team overpaying for a player who isn’t producing as much into his mid-to-late ’30s. That’s part of the game, but it’s also part of the reason the Yankees were willing to let Cano go to Seattle in the first place. They’ve seen this play out a few times already this decade (see: Rodriguez, Alex and Teixeira, Mark). There’s no way the Yankees want to get stuck in this situation again.
But if Jerry Dipoto can pull it off — or pull off a Cano trade anywhere, really, without having to eat ALL THE MONEY — then he’ll have earned his reputation as baseball’s boldest trader.
– – – – – –
Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Report: QB Smith’s career may be over after broken leg
• NFL’s worst rule rears its ugly head in Steelers game
• Rookie QB has no time for former coach after win
• NFL Winners and Losers: Browns actually look pretty good
