When it comes to asking prices and counteroffers, Robinson Cano still is shopping in Alex Rodriguez’s neighborhood, an industry source told The Post. The Yankees would like him more in Albert Pujols’ territory, only with a shorter lease.
Cano’s most recent offer to the Yankees, in a meeting last week, was a nine-year contract for between $250 and $260 million, the source said. The Yankees have countered with a seven-year deal for between $160 million and $175 million, a figure that would put Cano among the top five or six compensated position players in the game.
A second source said Cano’s representation, led by Jay Z and Brodie Van Wagenen, hasn’t asked anyone for the now infamous 10-year, $310-million package — or anything starting with a “3” — since he became a free agent. The request for those years and dollars came in May, attached with the premium of Cano foregoing his free agency, and the player and team shut down talks shortly after that. So those terms haven’t been relevant for six months.
The two sides are scheduled to speak again on Monday.
The Yankees have been adamant they won’t sit and wait for Cano to fully navigate free agency, not with, 1) many holes to fill on their roster after missing the 2013 playoffs; 2) a determination to get under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold in 2014; and, 3) A-Rod’s 211-game suspension likely more than a month away from being resolved.
The team has held discussions with free-agent outfielders Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury and infielder Stephen Drew and is increasingly hopeful that its own free-agent starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda will return on another one-year contract. Moreover, the club still is targeting Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who could be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles in December after a hiccup in negotiations between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball stalled the signing of a new posting agreement.
If they spend their allotment before Cano decide on his future, Yankees officials have vowed to industry folks, they’ll give up on Cano (or get him to agree to a dramatically reduced contract) and come up with a cheaper solution for second base. They reached out early to free-agent second baseman Omar Infante and also checked in with Cincinnati regarding a trade for Brandon Phillips.
A-Rod’s first mega-contract, signed with Texas in December 2000, was for 10 years and $252 million, so Cano’s current ask is for similar total dollars and one less year, making the annual average value above the $27.5 million of A-Rod’s current deal (10 years, $275 million) with the Yankees.
The Yankees’ offer would put Cano behind A-Rod, Josh Hamilton and Ryan Howard ($25 million each) and right around Pujols ($24 million) and Prince Fielder ($23.8 million) as the best compensated position players by annual salary. Of course, the years loom just as large as the dollars, and Jay Z surely wants to make a big impression in his initial voyage as an agent.
Jay Z, Van Wagenen and Juan Perez met with Mets officials Jeff Wilpon, Sandy Alderson and John Ricco on Nov. 18, as The Post first reported, but Alderson said an agreement with Cano was very unlikely. Other teams that appeared as possible suitors for Cano include Detroit, Seattle, Texas and Washington, but to date, no team has publicly declared a strong interest in the second baseman.