Mets’ Cano is keeping busy
Second baseman spending quarantine running food drive, working out and catching up with ex-players
NEW YORK — Robinson Cano is finding new ways to fill his quarantine days during the coronavirus pandemic. Some of those methods are honorable, like giving back to his local community in the Dominican Republic, while others involve sitting on the couch and watching ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary.
But mostly, the veteran second baseman is focusing on staying in shape as he waits for the call.
“I’m just hoping every morning when I wake up, that I might get a text from Luis Rojas or Brodie (Van Wagenen) that says ‘OK, this is the day that we’re gonna show up in Florida or New York to go back to spring training,’ ” Cano said on Tuesday in an interview with the Mets public relations department.
Cano, 37, has been biking and running for about two hours a day — in addition to throwing and hitting in the batting cage — while he waits in his home in the Dominican Republic for news about a potential baseball season.
“It’s been beneficial for me for sure,” he said. “Working out is my main focus right now. So I’m working on things and my legs feel strong right now. Just can’t wait to go back on the field, and then play.”
Cano is coming off a disappointing first year with the Mets, where he battled multiple quad, hamstring and hand injuries and hit .256 on a .736 OPS with a career-low 39 RBIs across 107 games. He entered this spring training, before it was canceled in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, with a focus on keeping his legs healthy for a full season.
As MLB discusses plans to launch a baseball season, a shortened 80-game schedule could prove beneficial to a veteran player like Cano. Does the eighttime All-Star agree?
“Honestly, maybe yes, maybe no,” Cano said. “I’m the kind of guy that I always start the season slow, and when the season goes on, I get hot. But, I have to be ready to start well from the beginning. It depends how many games we play. It’s kind of like, you got to be ready for the beginning.”
While he continues to wait for the league and players’ union to responsibly decide the next course of action, Cano turned his attention to the community. The 37-year-old organized a food drive and delivered 4,000 bags of food — including rice, beans, spaghetti, tuna, salami, sugar, salt and milk — to his neighborhood in the Dominican Republic.
“Now in quarantine and not being able to work, a lot of people are hungry,” Cano said. “They need food so that’s what I did. That’s one thing that I love to do. Go out and help people as much as I can.
“I like to go myself because the biggest thing is when you get there, you see the smile on their face. And for me, I want to hear from them. I don’t want anybody else to come and tell me their excitement and how they feel about it. I like to go myself and experience that.”
While enjoying his experience back at home in the Dominican Republic, Cano, like many other people during the quarantine, now has free time to reconnect with friends in the league. He recently caught up with Yadier Molina, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez and other former major leaguers over Zoom.
“That’s one of the good things about the quarantine,” he said. “You get a chance to talk with players and friends, something that you’re not gonna do in the season. This is one of the ways that will keep us connected, keep us close, even if we’re not on the same team. We will share moments, tell them how much of a fan we were, or how much we watched them and how much we respect them.”
Cano has also kept in touch with his Mets teammates through a group chat, which includes keeping the team motivated and prepared during these unfortunate circumstances. Cano said Mets manager Luis Rojas has played a large role in helping the team stay connected, in addition to the players’ chat the second baseman uses to check up on his teammates.
“We just gotta remember we’re in the same boat and we all got the same goal, we want to win,” Cano said. “Right now, even when we’ve been away for a month, we’re all together, we’re connecting.”