(Anthonty Causi, AP)
LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH: The Yankees are considering handing a long-term contract to second baseman Robinson Cano (above), but not free agents Josh Hamilton (inset left) or Zack Greinke (inset right) because they both have off-the-field issues. (
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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Suddenly, there are more teams than ever willing to act like the Yankees. The quirk: The Yanks are not one of them.
The biggest spenders in history aren’t exactly cutting baseball coupons as the General Managers Meetings open. But they are again more likely to pursue bargains than big-money bonanzas such as Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke. Brian Cashman and his entourage are not big-game hunters. The only nine-figure contract they are seriously contemplating is an extension with Robinson Cano.
And that is unlikely to get done this offseason. Cano hired Scott Boras, an act that has this industry interpretation: Cha-ching. In two conversations with Boras since the regular season concluded, he made two items clear:
* He does not envision Cano signing this winter (though he put that off on the Yankees’ general policy of waiting until personnel reach free agency before negotiating long-term pacts).
* He has seen — among other items — the national TV package double and the cash keep rolling in from local cable deals and thinks salaries should rise commensurately.
Thus, Boras will expect Cano to be treated like a free agent now or simply wait for the unfettered market to determine the price next offseason. The Yanks, meanwhile, are not feeling the same pressure as a year ago when CC Sabathia could opt out of his contract, forcing the Yanks to extend him immediately.
The Yanks will table negotiations with Cano if they do not get some kind of financial break for working something out a year early. It will give them 12 months to try to grow their farm system, size up Cano now that he has entered his thirties and continue to contour their payroll elsewhere with vows to drop below the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014.
Also, in a radically different landscape where, for example, the Dodgers, not the Yankees, are likely to have the largest payroll in the majors next year, the Yanks get 12 more months to gauge the true state of the market.
Yes, on one hand, more teams are capable and willing to spend than ever. On the other, more teams are horrified by the implications of forging mega-contracts that have generally been destructive for clubs. That is perhaps best typified by the 10-year, $275 million lemon the Yanks currently have with Alex Rodriguez that just now has reached the midway point.
This free-agent market is going to provide a litmus test of plenty of money vs. plenty of caution. Because the two best players available — Hamilton and Greinke — are so flawed.
Even if the Yanks were not making penny-counting decisions with an eye on the $189 million level, they still would pass on the top duo. After all, when the Yanks had no such payroll restrictions they already avoided Greinke. He was available from the Royals following the 2010 season and Kansas City gave interested teams permission to meet with the ace before making an acquisition.
Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi did just that at the Winter Meetings in Orlando and came away believing Greinke, who has suffered from anxiety issues, was not temperamentally built to pitch in New York. Hamilton’s drug history is well chronicled and he had a few slip-ups while a Ranger. Plus, he has had difficulty staying healthy. Thus, it is not just the Yankees who should be approaching the top of this market with caution.
This is generally a time when teams talk tough about holding a monetary line and there is a general scoff at the kind of seven-year, $175 million figure Hamilton was said to be pursuing.
But what usually follows is The Frenzy. Teams convince themselves they are one player away, they begin to ignore the tremendous risks, and they stretch financially and then stretch again. And with so much money in the industry it is going to be tough for teams to impose discipline.
What was a field that, for years, was just the Yankees and then just the Yankees and Red Sox is now deep with teams that are able and willing to bid against one another. So while the Yanks will not be in play for Hamilton, they will watch intently just how close he comes to that $175 million because there is an interlocking nature to contracts.
For if teams are not going to show extreme caution with Hamilton, then the Yanks can be pretty certain the same will be true next year with Cano.