Thursday, November 19, 2020

With Cano off the board, the Mets are celebrating, and the Yankee winter looks colder than ever

Today, normally downcast Met fans everywhere can toast their good fortune: The $24 million albatross formerly known as Robbie Cano has been exorcised from 2021, thanks to his pals, performance enhancing drugs. 

Last year's .316 batting average - with 10 HR in 49 games (four less than Joggie delivered in all of 2019) - apparently didn't result from Wheaties and goat yoga. 

Next time he appears, he'll be 39, with two seasons still left (at $24 M per) on the insane 10-year contract that Seattle bestowed on him in 2014, when Cano traded his Yankee heritage for an extra year of cash. Of course, it was always a deal with Mephistopheles. (They all are.) In this case, it was destined to: 

1. Leave Robbie overpaid and utterly disdained by whatever franchise possessed him.

2. Backfire financially, because lifelong Yanks find unique endorsements and financial advantages.

3. Make him a mercenary, who neither gives nor expects loyalty. 

This from a guy who heretofore had been known for his smile. Sad.

This is Cano's second suspension. The first - in 2018 with Seattle - cost him 80 games and $11 million, and greased his trade to the Mets. His Hall of Fame cred might be shot. It's questionable if he'll ever suit up for the Mets again or become a Bonilla/Ellsbury figure, a loathsome target known well to the Talk Radio of Gotham. 

But but BUT... his banishment is a $24 million Amazon gift certificate to new Mets owner Steve Cohen, who has extra money to fling at DJ LeMahieu or Trevor Bauer, or your mama. One caveat: Teams don't win the World Series with aging DHs. 

Someday, maybe the Yankees will figure that out.

Wait... Holy crap! I almost forgot: This is a Yankee fan blog. Surely, today, in the Bronx-Tampa Nexis of power, the Death Barge's front office is congratulating itself for ditching Cano back in 2014. 

Then again, they have seven years left on Giancarlo Stanton's $325 M contract, which will have him playing until age 38. And last winter, they gave Gerrit Cole a nine-year deal worth $324 M; he will also pitch for us until 38. 

Look, I'm not complaining, but... well... seems to me that, if we've learned anything over the years, it's that great teams are built from the ground up - with stars developed in the system and supplemented by free agents. Remember the Core Four? Or look at the Washington Nats. Or Tampa. You don't buy a championship team. You raise it.

From their farms, the Yankees have developed Aaron Judge and - um - Gary Sanchez. We traded for Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier; maybe they should count? And wither goest Miguel Andujar? 

You can't buy a world championship. You need to grow your own. So, chin up, everybody: The Mets might "win" this winter. But the Yankees "won" last year. It's all about the farms. Hey, I wonder how the Martian is doing?

8 comments:

JM said...

Here's hoping we reach the day when we can proudly sing, "We are farmers. Tum te tum tum tum te dum."

How about we trade Stanton for Cano? We pay Robbie his last few big paychecks and we're done. Cohen gets the Glass Golem and pays him the rest of his contract.

It sounds loopy, but anything to shorten the pain.

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute, Duque. The Nats bought Scherzer and Corbin, two of the three pitchers who won them the World Series. The third (Strasberg) they got because they were a last place team and he was a no-brainer first pick. So, the Nats are just better than the Yankees at signing free agent pitchers and drafting.

Also, a question for the talented and wise writers who contribute to this blog: Is it correct to say "Yankee fans" or should it be "Yankees fans"? I say "Yankees fans" because Yankees is the team's name; and while I do root for individual Yankees players (each a Yankee) to do well, it is the whole team for which I root.

Anonymous said...

A few things...

1) I really like Stanton for Cano. Maybe after next year when the Mets have to pay again and Stanton is one year closer to the end of his contract. Of course if Stanton has a good year... we should still trade him! We can just ask for more.

2) Of greater concern is Duque writing about the Mets. Sure he caught himself but it is a VERY slippery slope.

I myself have started to read about them. Just an article or two, seemingly nothing to worry about. But before I know it I'll be going over to the Met Blog Amazin' Avenue and watching Met games on days when the Yankees aren't playing.

Then picture in picture when they are both playing at the same time.
I will tell myself that "After all, they are a better team and it's still NY"

And then one day it will happen. I'll be reading comments on Amazin' Avenue" and I'll post, "DON'T TRADE FOR STANTON!!!!!!"

And it will be over. Time to buy a cap.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

Technically you are correct. We should say Yankees Fans as in fans of the Yankees but language evolves with usage and so I figure both are acceptable.

Doug K.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I go with "Yankees fans," too, Anon, and try to stick by it. It's not like we're just rooting for one damned Yankee—though sometimes it seems close to it.

And I think adding older pitchers counts toward the "augmenting" of the core that Duque was talking about. It seems to be all the rage, of late: you sign up guys who are older but who are not too old, and who are presumed to be past the almost universal, early-career arm blowouts.

But as noted in earlier posts, the Yankees seem almost pathologically unable to identify who those pitchers are. From Jeff Weaver through James Paxton—we are talking almost two full decades of Brain bringing in yet another "can't-miss" young arm who is going to finally haul us over the top.

Nope.


el duque said...

With regard to YANKEE v YANKEES:

Is it YANKEE STADIUM or YANKEES STADIUM?

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