APPLE OF HIS EYE
IN RETURN TO N.Y., CANO PLANS RETURN TO PLAYOFFS WITH METS
PORT ST. LUCIE — Robinson Cano disappeared to the not-so-great Northwest for five years, but will return to the Big Apple with visions of October dancing in his head.
It’s pretty much all he knows playing for a New York team.
“I grew up in the Yankees’ system,” the Mets’ new second baseman said Sunday in his first comments to reporters upon reporting to spring training. “They teach you how to be a champion from the minor leagues. To be able to win a championship, to be able to make it to the playoffs [seven] times, it’s kind of like you want to go there every year. I wasn’t able to make it in Seattle, and I know it’s not because we didn’t have the team. It’s just part of the game.
“But coming back here, I’m looking forward to being back in the playoffs.”
There isn’t a bigger name among general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s offseason acquisitions than the 36year-old Cano’s. The new GM kicked off his winter shopping spree with the trade that brought his former CAA client, Cano, to the Mets along with AllStar closer Edwin Diaz. The cost was steep in that it included former firstround draft picks Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn.
Cano’s bat will be asked to bolster a lineup that was among the least productive in the major leagues last season. But after missing 80 games last season for a PED suspension, Cano must prove he is still an offensive force.
In the clubhouse, the Mets are more certain about what they are getting. Cano has been given David Wright’s old locker at First Data Field.
“David Wright, the captain is gone now and he’s not going to have that presence in the clubhouse like he’s had for so many years,” manager Mickey Callaway said referring to the third baseman, whose playing career concluded in October.
“So to bring in a guy like Cano, a Hall-of-Fame-type player that does everything the right way, thinks about baseball in a winning sense — we talked to him about baseball, he cares about winning, that is all he cares about. And he’s going to be able to deliver that message to all our young guys.”
Though Cano saw action at first base last season, Callaway anticipates he will be used exclusively at second. And Cano downplayed concerns about his age. “I feel like I am 25,” Cano said. In speaking with Cano after the trade, Van Wagenen outlined an aggressive offseason plan, and that was largely realized with the additions of Wilson Ramos, Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie following the trade with the Mariners.
“It looks like the same things he said, you’re going to go out and build a team that can go out there and compete and you have got a lot of pieces and this feels really good,” Cano said. “Just pray that everyone stays healthy and when you have a healthy team, especially this team that we have, we can do pretty good things in this game.”
Cano said he wants to be an everyday player, but Van Wagenen has a plan in which the veterans in particular will receive plenty of rest. That could mean capping Cano around 140 games in an effort to keep him fresh.
“If I have the chance to go out and play every day I would love to, so I don’t want to sit back from that, especially if you are used to playing like that,” Cano said. “I hate to be sitting on the bench and watching the game.”
Cano will continue to serve as a mentor for the 24-year-old Diaz, whose electric arsenal should give the Mets a bona fide stud in the ninth inning.
“I told Edwin how tough [the media can be],” Cano, a former star with the Yankees, said. “As a young kid, it’s different when you come in through the system in Seattle: You don’t get to deal with a lot of media. You don’t get to deal with all of the fans who call into the radio station and criticize yourself if you don’t do good. Have fun out there. That’s the biggest thing: Just go out there and have fun, knowing that you are human. It’s the same game in a different city. Don’t focus on the city. Just go out there and do good.”