The 36-year-old second baseman and former Yankees great was acquired by the Mets in a seven-player trade.
Robinson Cano’s first stint in New York with the Yankees was Hall of Fame worthy. Cano is headed back to the Big apple as a member of the New York Mets following a trade with the Seattle Mariners that sends Cano, $20 million and talented closer Edwin Diaz to the Mets for Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak to and three pitching prospects Gerson Bautista, Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn.
Get to know All-Star closer Edwin Diaz, a main piece of Mets' Robinson Cano trade https://t.co/RnAPf42DpI pic.twitter.com/A6WaMeOwg9
— SNY (@SNYtv) December 2, 2018
The Mets are coming off of a disastrous 77-85 season, but the club feels that they aren’t that far off from competing for a Wild Card and possess some of the best arms in the game including 2018 Cy Young award winner Jacob DeGrom.
Cano isn’t the 20-something perennial All-Star that he was with the Yankees, but he will provide some left-handed power and be able to play first base. Despite accusations of being a lazy player over the years, Cano’s reputation as a positive clubhouse influence rivals his idol and former teammate, Alex Rodriguez.
The money is what it is.
A quick look at the $ …
Mets get:
– Robinson Cano: 5 years, $120M
Mariners get:
– Jay Bruce: 2 years, $26M
– Anthony Swarzak: 1 year, $8MMets are taking on $86M. Plus Diaz should make somewhere from $30M-$35M over the next four seasons, should he remain an elite closer.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 30, 2018
Mets fans are generally disgusted with the front office so the numerous negative fan reaction to the trade is to be expected. The fan base has absolutely no confidence in the franchise to make the right moves.
Sorry, folks this is not a good deal. When fans say that Mets need to add payroll, I don’t think anyone had Robinson Cano in mind. Mets dumped 2 bad short term contracts but added a HUGE bad one.
Brodie got fleeced in his 1st trade as a GM #lgm #MetsTwitter
— FromTheRedSeats (@metsnark) December 2, 2018
However, the Mets’ new 44-year-old hotshot GM, Brodie Van Wagenen, a former sports agent, isn’t listening to the grumblings of yesteryear. He was hired to bring the Mets into the future, take chances and help the team become competitive quickly. Reports say he’s not finished wheeling and dealing.
After Cano/Diaz trade, Mets are clearly still thinking big. Could be a sign they plan to trade Noah Syndergaard, then turn around and bring in Kluber. Brodie Van Wagenen appears to be exploring every possible avenue to improve his team.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 2, 2018
Now let’s see if Cano can earn some of it and help the Mets turn their past misfortune into wins.
The Dominican second baseman from New Jersey became the Yankees starting second baseman in 2005 and compiled nine years that are as potent as any second baseman to ever play the game, finishing in the Top 6 of MVP voting five times during that period.
After Cano took the $240 million bag from Seattle in 2014, he had some career years before getting caught for PEDs in 2018 and serving an 80-game PED suspension. Cano is still a professional, productive hitter but he’s undoubtedly on the decline as he nears 40. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have felt the need to start using performance enhancers so late in his career.
The Mets have more moves to make before they can even think about the playoffs, but they did bag a big name and a guy that was a legend in New York and the Mets don’t have many of those. Problem is, he’s a former Yankee, but that’s nothing a few game-winning homers can’t fix.
