ORLANDO, Fla. — Take the money and stay? Or the green is more plentiful on the other side?
Brian Cashman has no delusions about his team’s top free-agent target this winter, longtime Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. The Yankees general manager, often brutally honest, admitted Tuesday he anticipates Cano will wind up with his highest bidder. Cashman just hopes his team bids highest.
“He loves the money, but I think we’ll have a substantial offer,” Cashman said at the general managers’ meetings. “Somebody might come in and have a much more substantial offer. It’s just the way it works.”
Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner expressed confidence Tuesday night that team officials would meet within in the next week with Cano’s agent, Brodie Van Wagenen.
“We haven’t talked any specifics yet,” Steinbrenner said.
In discussing the state of his team at length, Cashman also said he would consider signing a veteran closer out of free agency; he has “more pressing needs” than outfield; he would tender a contract to arbitration-eligible catcher Francisco Cervelli, who missed most of the 2013 season because of injuries and a suspension; and he wanted to “import 400 innings” (two starting pitchers, in other words) to his rotation.
However, there’s little doubt the Yankees’ winter will be graded most of all on what goes down with Cano, their best player the previous five seasons and the best available free agent anywhere.
The Yankees have discussed a seven-year contract worth $161 million or $168 million with Cano, who asked the club for a 10-year, $310 million deal. To date, no other suitor has emerged publicly for Cano’s services. Nevertheless, Cashman expects Cano to work deliberately through the free-agency process — “Usually the big ones drag it out,” Cashman said — and he professed he wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees got outbid and Cano chose the higher bid.
“It’s just the way it works. He’s in free agency. That’s the feeling I get,” Cashman said. “Doesn’t make it wrong at all. That’s what makes the U.S. the greatest place in the world. We just have to compete for that.
“I feel very comfortable we’ll strongly compete for the player. But the value we put on him and the value somebody else puts on him might be vastly different. If it is, we’ll lose him.”
Cashman offered no opinion on Cano’s market: “It just matters what one team chooses to do,” he said.
“I’d rather he not be a free agent. I’d rather he be securely tucked away as our second baseman, and that’s what our effort will be this winter. But I can’t predict what’s going to happen. … Who knows? I know we’re going to make a play on it. … Will somebody else make a bigger play? I don’t know. We’ll see.”
On the bullpen front, Cashman reiterated longtime setup man David Robertson is not assured of succeeding the retired Mariano Rivera.
“He’s never done that before,” Cashman said of Robertson closing. “I think he’s earned the right to take a shot at it, and he very well may be the guy. But we’re not anointing him the guy.”
Agents for closers have reached out to him, Cashman said. The top closers on the market are Joe Nathan, Grant Balfour, Joaquin Benoit and Fernando Rodney.
“I’m going to explore every option,” Cashman said. “Our team has a lot of areas to fill, and the bullpen as a collective is weakened now. … We need to improve in that area. Whether it’s big names or small names, we need to look at all of them.”
With the Yankees determined to stay under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold, and with Alex Rodriguez’s future still unclear, the club might not have the payroll flexibility to pay big for a closer, especially with the starting rotation a greater area of need. The Yankees are sure to bid heavily on Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, whose posting is likely to take place once Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball finalize a new agreement for the process, and they also would like to bring back free-agent Hiroki Kuroda.
Catching is another area where the Yankees are looking at upgrades, most notably free-agent Brian McCann. But Cashman said the team would bring back Cervelli, who got off to an encouraging start in 2013 only to go down with a fractured right hand on April 26. He ultimately accepted a 50-game suspension for his involvement with Biogenesis.
As for the outfield, Cashman said the team will look to improve it, with free agents Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Beltran the top choices. Once again, though, the Yankees will face financial limitations, which could lead them to alternate routes.