Cano ban a tough break for Jays
It must feel pretty good to be a fan of the New York Mets right about now — and how many times has that been said over the last few decades?
First the Mets, who almost went bankrupt under previous ownership, were bought by hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, who with an estimated $10.1 billion (U.S.) net worth joins Detroit’s Marian Ilitch as Major League Baseball’s richest individual owners, per Bloomberg. He has so much cash, his claims of not being in this for the money almost sound believable.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, they received even more financial flexibility, this time courtesy of disgraced infielder Robinson Cano. The eighttime all-star tested positive for the synthetic steroid stanozolol and was suspended for the entire 2021 season. That tossed his $24-million paycheque into the trash.
This isn’t the first time Cano has been caught red-handed. He was suspended 80 games in 2018 after he tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic commonly used by athletes as a masking agent to remove evidence of doping. That cost him just under $12 million.
“We were extremely disappointed to be informed about Robinson’s suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program,” Mets president Sandy Alderson
said in a statement. “The violation is very unfortunate for him, the organization, our fans and the sport. The Mets fully support MLB’s efforts toward eliminating performance-enhancing substances from the game.”
Excuse those who stanozo-lol the “disappointed” part of that statement. It’s not very often teams should be happy to get word one of their players tested positive for a banned substance, but this should be one of those moments. Alderson suddenly has an extra $20 million to work with and the ability to upgrade a position that was previously blocked. There isn’t much for the Mets to complain about.
The same can’t be said about teams like the Blue Jays who are in the market for an impact infielder. The Mets were already expected to spend big this winter, now they figure to dig even deeper into their wallets. Cano’s suspension should only increase the chances of the Mets taking a run at free agent DJ LeMahieu and it’s a given they will be in on Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor among many others.
There could be a ripple effect that impacts the outfield as well. The Mets, similar to the Jays, have a lot of positional flexibility on their roster. Jeff McNeil could move from left field to second base, Brandon Nimmo from centre to left with the club then targeting free-agent outfielders George Springer and Jackie Bradley Jr., two players who have been linked to the Jays in multiple reports.
If the Blue Jays end up being as aggressive this winter as they claim should be expected, the Mets, not the Yankees or Dodgers, figure to be their biggest competitors. Two teams in the market looking for very similar things, both with owners who have deep pockets and the flexibility to make some big moves, even during a pandemic. The Mets didn’t need any help to get there, Cano gave it to them anyway.
“I understand that everything that goes into my body, I’m responsible for that,” Cano said in a statement.
Those also happened to be the exact same words Cano used in 2018 after his first positive test. Cano might not have another $24 million coming his way next year, but at least he saved a few bucks by copying and pasting an old quote instead of hiring a crisis firm to write him a new one.
Cano’s thought process here is truly baffling. One can at least understand the allure of cheating the system when tens of million dollars are at stake. That doesn’t make it right, nor does anyone have to agree with the methods used, but it’s possible to relate to the moments of weakness that would have allowed that to happen. If it meant setting up families for generations to come, some of us would have even made the same choice.
But Cano wasn’t playing for a new contract and he hasn’t been for quite some time. His family has been well taken care of ever since he inked a 10-year deal worth $228 million with the Seattle Mariners in 2014. There was little to no financial gain left to be made here; he will never sign another bigleague deal. Cano decided to keep cheating anyway, perhaps because his ego wouldn’t let him stop.
At this point, it’s reasonable to speculate whether Cano has played his last big-league game. Barring another positive test, there’s nothing the Mets can do about the final two years and $48 million remaining on his contract. However, with 2021 off the books they are one step closer to potentially buying him out and making the problem go away for good.
Cano was once considered the backbone of the New York Yankees, the more productive piece of a double-play duo that included Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. Cano’s resumé is impressive: five silver sluggers, two gold gloves, eight all-star appearances and the 2009 World Series title. For close to a decade, few players were better.
None of that matters anymore. It hasn’t mattered since 2018. Cano isn’t going to join Jeter as another one of the Yankees’ first-ballot Hall of Famers. He’s not going to Cooperstown at all unless he buys a ticket at the gate. It’s over for Cano. But the Mets are only getting started.
At this point, it’s reasonable to speculate whether Cano has played his last big-league game