Kuzul

Robinson Cano is the crown jewel of MLB free agency this offseason.

The former New York Yankees slugger is now 31 years old, but that has not stopped him from reportedly asking for a 10-year, $300 million deal.

Cano has surpassed a .300 batting average, .345 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage during each of the past five seasons, but it’s hard to imagine any team will be willing to meet his asking price.

Rumors of Cano’s potential destination continue to make themselves known. Whether it’s the Yankees strategically playing the market or dark-horse contenders emerging, we’re just getting started with this saga.

Here’s a look at the latest batch of rumors surrounding the star second baseman.

Cano Taking a Trip Across the City?

Either Cano is very serious about getting as much cash as possible regardless of destination or he and representative Jay Z think they are slick.

Per a report from ESPN’s Adam Rubin, the star rapper and other representatives met with the New York Mets recently:

As Rubin notes, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson does not sound pleased with the asking price.

Then again, for a team that has not posted a winning season in five years, a superstar like Cano may be the final boost needed to an improving roster.

It’s hard to see a deal happening, and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman seems to agree per Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News. Not exactly what Cano was hoping for if the intent was to stir up a reaction in order to get the Yankees to cave in to his demands. 

Yankees Targeting Other Players?

Were the Yankees so disgusted with Cano’s demands that they’re turning their attention to other players? Or maybe they are just not that concerned about the prospect of losing one of the game’s best second basemen?

Regardless of the answer, the Yankees are clearly not stressing about the situation. Instead, The Bombers are looking to upgrade other areas while they wait per Mark Feinsand and Michael O’Keeffe of the New York Daily News:

The Yankees are engaged with “five or six free agents,” team president Randy Levine said. The Bombers have serious interest in Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann, while Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Drew are also intriguing as they look to bolster the left side of the infield. And that’s not even mentioning Japanese import Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees’ primary pitching target of the winter.

“We’re not waiting around,” Levine told the Daily News on Tuesday. “If guys start to come off the board, we’re going to sign them, which will affect the amount of money we have left for other players including (Cano).”

Is this posturing by the Yankees to get Cano back where he wants to be before the well runs dry?

Maybe. But more importantly, the Yankees simply don’t seem worried by much of anything when it comes to Cano. That’s a good move—the best teams don’t put the demands of one player on a pedestal and sacrifice other areas.

Has Cano Created a One-Team Race?

This is far from a normal free-agency bidding war.

As one American League executive told ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the entire process to this point has not made a lot of sense for anyone—except the Yankees:

It means that what he’s going to get is probably not going to be market-driven. If you had a situation where everyone remained objective and everyone played it smart and you had teams that thought they could sign Robinson Cano for $120 million, you’d probably have five or six teams in on it…

…It’s almost like you’re starting out by making the market more exclusive. So all those teams willing to spend $120 million don’t apply because they think this is headed for a different stratosphere.

What exactly was the point of demanding $300 million? Cano and Co. could not have possibly thought the Yankees would dole that out. Now we know why so little interest in Cano has been had—the financial side of things is something only the Yankees can meet.

Maybe this explains the trip to visit the Mets, which was initiated by Cano’s representatives, not the other way around per the above reports.

It sounds like it may be a while before anything gets done, but one thing is for certain—the Yankees have a firm hold on this struggle at the moment.

Follow @Chris_Roling

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Hey, you can’t blame Robinson Cano for dreaming big.

The up-until-now New York Yankees second baseman is a free agent, after all. Dreaming big is what free agents are supposed to do. To dream small is to low-ball oneself, and one should never do that.

But Cano and his people aren’t going to get what they want. You know that. I know that. The Yankees know that.

And if Cano doesn’t know that, time will inevitably make him know it.

What is it that Cano and his people want? Well, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports floated the idea of a $300 million contract—which would be the first of its kind in Major League Baseball—back in September, and Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York reported on Monday that this is still what Cano wants.

To be exact, he wants 10 years and $310 million. Not even $30 million per year, because why demand that when you can demand $31 million per year?

“We want Robbie back; we think Robbie is terrific,” said Yankees president Randy Levine to Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York on Tuesday. “But we have no interest in doing any 10-year deals and no interest in paying $300 million to any player. Until he gets a little more realistic, we have nothing to talk about.”

Just as superstar players are supposed to dream big during free agency, this is what their incumbent teams are supposed to do: draw a line in the sand and initiate a blinking contest.

Maybe the Yankees won’t be the beneficiaries in the end, but Cano is bound to be the one to blink first. It’s just a matter of time before he does indeed get “more realistic.”

Let’s consider the two things Cano is looking to sell himself as. First up is the notion that he’s a great player worthy of a considerable sum of money.

To this end, well, yeah. He’s a career .300 hitter with a 125 OPS+ and 204 career home runs. That’s outstanding stuff for a second baseman, and he’s better at this stage than he was earlier. His 141 OPS+ over the last four seasons trumps the 111 OPS+ he had from 2005 to 2009.

But the latest word is that Cano’s people aren’t just trying to sell him as a great baseball player. They apparently fancy him as a cultural icon as well.

“They’re selling him as Michael Jordan, not as a baseball player,” a major league official told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. “As a guy that’s going to be a big rock star and bring all these fans in. Last year, that wasn’t the case.” 

Let the record show that I say this with no malice whatsoever, but this, obviously, is laughable.

The baseball world is at a point in its history where it really doesn’t have any players who are that much bigger than the game.

It’s not that Major League Baseball is hurting for superstars. It has more to do with how hard it is for any one superstar to get so tremendously popular, and that’s partially because of the nature of baseball’s fanbase.

Baseball rooting interests are local, not national. What the heck do fans in San Francisco need Cano for? They have Buster Posey. Fans in Detroit have Miguel Cabrera. Even elsewhere in New York, plenty of fans go for David Wright rather than Cano.

Sure, some superstars have appeal that reaches beyond local borders. Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, two of Cano’s longtime teammates, come to mind as examples. Albert Pujols was in that camp during his heyday. I’ll wager there’s something about Bryce Harper that strikes a national chord.

But Cano? It’s not like he’s ever been a leading All-Star vote-getter. Heck, he barely even cracked the top 20 for jersey sales this year. In fact, according to MLB.com, he was eight spots behind the top second baseman on the list: Boston’s Dustin Pedroia.

Perhaps Jay Z, Cano’s high-profile and boastful new business partner, was hoping that his own personal brand would somehow inflate Cano’s personal brand. Instead, you get the sense that most baseball fans have rolled their eyes and are now waiting for Cano to get a contract that former agent Scott Boras could have gotten him without all the added hype.

Therein lies the other quandary Cano is facing: Even Boras would be hard-pressed to do well in the market for Cano’s services.

There was a time when it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Dodgers would be in on Cano this winter. But Magic Johnson said in early October that it wasn‘t going to happen, and then the Dodgers signed somebody else to play second base: Cuban defector Alex Guerrero.

With the Dodgers seemingly out of the equation, there is no obvious alternative for Cano outside The Bronx.

The Tigers have been big spenders recently and have a vacancy at second base with Omar Infante hitting free agency. But they already have Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez signed to big-money contracts, and they will soon have to worry about Miguel Cabrera. Since they might sign Max Scherzer to a big extension before they get to him, now’s not a great time for them to get involved with Cano.

The Los Angeles Angels have also been big spenders recently. But given what they’ve gotten out of Pujols and Hamilton so far, it’s fair to wonder if Angels owner Arte Moreno has cold feet when it comes to big-money contracts.

Plus, there will eventually have to be money for Mike Trout.

The Washington Nationals are an interesting option. But they have a talented youngster in Anthony Rendon ready to man second base, and a long-term contract for Cano could ultimately complicate hammering out long-term deals for Harper and Stephen Strasburg, among others.

The Texas Rangers? They could probably make it happen, but their middle infield is crowded enough with Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler blocking top prospect Jurickson Profar. 

The New York Mets? Well, they did meet with Jay Z this week, as Ken Davidoff and Dan Martin of the New York Post were first to report. But they’ve swung and missed on the last few big-money deals they’ve tried, and general manager Sandy Alderson has said it’s unlikely the club will even so much as sign a $100 million player. 

Will a mystery team come calling? That’s always possible, especially given that the new national TV deals going into effect in 2014 mean extra money for all 30 clubs.

But as Wendy Thurm of FanGraphs and others have pointed out, those only mean an extra $25 million per year. Nobody suddenly has enough extra money lying around to give in to Cano’s apparent desire for $31 million per year.

Could the Yankees swing it? Sure they could. The extra TV money may not be an extra $31 million per year, but it’s in addition to all the other money they get from a huge local TV contract and consistently excellent attendance figures.

But they obviously don’t want to, and they have their reasons.

They have the luxury tax to worry about, for starters, and the last thing they need is a contract that has the potential to be an even bigger debacle than the 10-year, $275 million contract they gave Alex Rodriguez back in 2007.

Cano and his people are presumably keeping how that contract came to be at the forefront of their minds. After A-Rod opted out of his contract following the 2007 season, there was all sorts of talk coming from the Yankees about how they wouldn’t cave. But sure enough, they caved.

Whatever hope Cano and his people may be drawing from that incident, however, is misplaced. Things are different now.

Hank Steinbrenner was one of the driving forces, if not the driving force, in getting A-Rod’s mega-contract done. He’s since been pushed into the shadows, with the much more measured and calculating Hal Steinbrenner taking charge.

It will be a huge shocker if Hal authorizes a deal bigger than the A-Rod contract. He knows what an albatross that deal is now and how difficult it’s made life in regard to the organization’s bottom line. He also knows that there’s no reason to even come close to A-Rod numbers until Cano starts making some real music with another team.

And that’s highly unlikely to happen at Cano’s asking price. Even in a market that’s flush with extra cash, his asking price is too high. He’ll have to come down sooner or later.

Maybe it will be sooner. Maybe it will be later. But it will happen. Nobody’s going to rush to meet Cano at $310 million. He’ll have to meet everyone else at a much smaller number and then work his way as close to $310 million as he can.

It’s just a matter of when he’s going to realize that his big dream is nothing but a fantasy.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A few weeks into the offseason, the open market isn’t quite yet, well, open for business.

The biggest name to sign a deal with a new team is…Tim Hudson? The former Atlanta Braves pitcher, who agreed to a two-year, $23 million deal with the San Francisco Giants on Monday, is a perfectly fine get for a team that’s been on the lookout for pitching.

But with all apologies to Hudson, who has had himself a great career to this point, he’s also a 38-year-old coming off a broken ankle that cost him the second half of 2013.

That profile doesn’t exactly scream “big-name signing.”

It’s not uncommon for it to take time before the hot stove starts cooking. The moving and shaking and wheeling and dealing usually gets going around the time of the winter meetings, which are coming up in early December, a little less than three weeks from now.

But aside from the timing and what seems to be a consensus opinion that this free-agent class is lacking, it’s also possible that there’s another dynamic to blame for this offseason’s slow start.

Here’s a hint: His initials are Alex Rodriguez.

It may seem a tad trite to bang the A-Rod drum as reason behind why more of the top-tier names, like Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo and Ervin Santana haven’t signed, but there just may be something to that stance.

You’re well aware by now that Rodriguez, who played last season even after being suspended by Major League Baseball for 211 games last August for his alleged involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, is appealing the ban.

The arbitration process, though, which didn’t begin until after the playoffs, remains in a holding pattern, as the two sides are continuing with their no-love-lost “courtship,” which was yet again delayed last week when Rodriguez fell ill.

At least the hearings have advanced to the stage where witnesses are being called, with the latest expected to be Yankees president Randy Levine, according to the New York Daily News.

When might all this actually come to an end with a ruling? For an update, here’s Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York:

The 211-game suspension should be upheld, reduced or eliminated by Christmas, probably a bit sooner. After the appeal hearing’s conclusion, arbitrator Fredric Horowitz will have 25 days to decide. He can come to a decision at any point.

So what does this have to do with the free-agent market exactly? As is always the case this time of year, it comes down to money, cash, dough, the green stuff.

Whatever you want to call it, the Yankees may or may not have a lot more lying around, depending on the outcome of Rodriguez’s appeal. That’s because next year, the Yankees third baseman is due at least $25 million—and in all likelihood upward of $31 mill, if he hits merely six more home runs to tie Willie Mays for fourth all-time.

That’s quite a chunk of change that the Yankees could be throwing at another prime free agent or three this winter.

Part of the reason this is so important is that the club is attempting to stay under the $189 million payroll for 2014 to avoid once again having to pay the ever-increasing luxury-tax penalty.

One imagines that, in such a scenario, not knowing whether a potential $31 million will fall on the debit or credit side of the ledger could be the sort of thing that pushes pause on a potential spending spree.

And not just for the Yankees. So much of free agency is about agents and reps determining and defining the market for their players, which becomes especially challenging when one of the deepest-pocketed teams in the sport can’t say for sure whether they can even open up their wallet, let alone flash the cash.

Cano, in particular, is in a tricky spot. As the Yankees’ longtime star second baseman and top name on the market, he’s looking to land a massive contract. Because his maybe-former teammate is holding things up, though, Cano already has indicated that he’s willing to wait until the new year—if it takes that long—according to John Harper of the Daily News.

To be sure, Rodriguez’s appeal process is far from the only obstacle that’s standing in the way of the inevitable domino effect that comes when a big name or two finally does sign.

As mentioned above, getting the general managers together in one place—that would be the winter meetings in Orlando, Fla., from Dec. 9-12—often proves to be baseball’s version of an aphrodisiac for trading.

Plus, there’s that whole hold-up surrounding the as-yet unresolved agreement between Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball with regards to the posting process for Japanese players. Caught in the middle of that is star pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who arguably would be the top available arm on the market—if made available.

But in the end, it’s hard to ignore or argue that Rodriguez’s ongoing (never-ending?) appeal isn’t hijacking, or at least stalling, this year’s free agency.

Plus, it’s fun to pull a page out of the league’s book and blame A-Rod.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Now that the General Manager Meetings have wrapped up last week, activity has begun to pick up.

In the past week, starting pitcher Tim Hudson has a pending agreement to join the San Francisco Giants, outfielder Marlon Byrd inked a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies and catcher Carlos Ruiz decided to stay put with the Phillies. That’s three of ESPN.com’s top 50 free agents off the market. 

Moreover, rumors are swirling as we are a little more than a week away from the Thanksgiving holiday. For instance, Jay-Z and the New York Mets held a secret dinner Monday night to discuss free agent second baseman Robinson Cano, according to the New York Post. Last week, the New York Post had a theory the Miami Marlins could be a stealth bidder for Cano’s services because they are further along in their accumulation of young talent, and no owner has proven more impetuous in spending and selling off than Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

Basically, at this time of the year, you can’t trust everything you read. But because of that, we’re here to help decipher what is real and what is fantasy in the Marlins world.

From the least impactful to most impactful, we’ll play fact or fiction with the latest Marlins rumors.

Begin Slideshow

With the Robinson Cano free-agency tour off to a slow start, Jay Z and Creative Artists Agency took their sales pitch across New York City on Monday night. According to Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, Robinson Cano’s representatives, led by the famous rap mogul, held court with the front office of the New York Mets.

Outside of the ridiculous notion of Cano actually bolting the Bronx for Queens, the meeting with Mets representatives is a sign that Jay Z is desperate for suitors and lacking any substantial offer outside of the Yankees’ willingness to re-sign the star second baseman to a long-term contract.

This secret meeting took place just hours after CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported that Cano and the Yankees are still $150 million apart in contract negotiations. Yet, just last week, New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson expressed an unwillingness to give away a contract in excess of $100 million to any player on the free-agent market, per ESPN New York. Furthermore, the Colorado Rockies “blew away” the Mets by offering a $2.5 million contract to free-agent reliever LaTroy Hawkins, per the New York Daily News.

If Cano’s camp is soliciting interest, or practicing their sales pitch, on the New York Mets, there’s little reason to believe multiple teams are lining up to offer Cano a contract in excess of $200 million. While the best player on the market is justified in seeking a record-setting deal, the Yankees should not be worried about another team jumping in right now.

On Monday night, MLB Network insiders Jon Heyman, Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal bantered about which teams could possibly enter the Cano fray. Naturally, the Mets weren’t mentioned. Even if the Los Angeles Dodgers, Detroit Tigers or Washington Nationals make a bid for the best second baseman in baseball, the Yankees have the means to go above and beyond anyone else.

Thus far, the negotiating tactics make sense from the Yankees point of view. General manager Brian Cashman is willing to go to great lengths to retain his best player, but bidding against himself is foolish. Until a suitor willing to cut a legitimate check emerges, Cano’s camp looks lost.

Years ago, a secret meeting with the Mets would have caused a ripple effect in New York, but those days are long gone. It’s widely understood that the Mets don’t have the resources or the willingness to sign a free agent of Cano’s caliber. Even if Mets ownership and management put on the full court press, Cano would have to sacrifice millions in order to be in range of a contract with the crosstown rivals.

Instead, the idea of Jay Z and Brodie Van Wagenen, Cano’s agents, sharing a meal with Mets brass won’t cause anything but back page headlines and delusions of grandeur in New York. Despite representing the best available player, Cano’s agents haven’t yet drummed up the support needed to make the Yankees worry. Until they do, dinner with the Mets will remain nothing but a punch line.

In spite of Tim Lincecum’s $35 million deal and Ruben Amaro’s stubbornness in Philadelphia, the lack of suitors lining up for Robinson Cano has been the most surprising subplot of the hot stove season. With each franchise receiving $25 million more in revenue, due to Major League Baseball’s media deal, the chance to acquire the best second baseman in baseball was expected to appeal to at least a few big-market owners.

With Thanksgiving still over a week away, that may still be the case. If it is, the Yankees will have to eventually sweat out a real contract squabble to retain their star. If it’s not, Cano will be forced to negotiate a contract based on his brand, not his bat. Ironically, that “brand” is being compared to one of the best athletes in history. According to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News, Cano is being sold as baseball’s Michael Jordan. Per Feinsand‘s reporting:

“They’re selling him as Michael Jordan, not as a baseball player,” said a major-league official familiar with Cano’s situation. “As a guy that’s going to be a big rock star and bring all these fans in. Last year, that wasn’t the case.”

If the first step in that process is dinner with the Mets, don’t expect the Steinbrenner family to write anything close to a $300 million contract this winter. 

Over the next few weeks, the Cano-Mets angle will splinter in one of two directions: A non-story in the long, arduous path for Cano back to the Bronx or the first sign that Cano’s agency misread the market, scared off potential big-market suitors and gave the Yankees an easy path to re-signing a star they desperately need. 

If it’s the latter, Jay Z’s first foray into Major League Baseball free agency will qualify as a marketing disaster and Robinson Cano’s next contract will be a boon for the New York Yankees. As of right now, the Cano camp looks very, very desperate.

Comment below, follow me on Twitter or “like” my Facebook page to talk all things baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Expect the New York Yankees to be at the epicenter of everything free agency this offseason.

Not only are they the franchise with the most money to spend. They also have extremely large holes to fill.

The Yankees will be a possible landing spot for what seems like just about every top free agent available on the market.

Plucking the right guys in free agency from other teams will be crucial to the success of the Yankees’ turnaround.

Just as important as signing the right free agents from other teams is making the right decisions on which of their own free agents to re-sign.

The Yankees have a slew of free agents and money coming off the books. Some will go, some will stay.

We know Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte are gone because they both are retiring.

The rest of the list is up for grabs, with the very good possibility that none of the following 10 names return to the roster next season.

Begin Slideshow

Imagine a scenario where the Miami Marlins calls Jay Z’s sports agency, Roc Nation, and tells him they are prepared to offer All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano the 10-year, $300 milllion contract the New York Yankees aren’t willing to put on the table. 

Roc Nation, surprised but skeptical because of what team is on the other line, decides to tell the Marlins they want $350 million for 10 years. Unfazed, the Marlins says that won’t be a problem. 

By Christmas, Cano signs with the Marlins, and the baseball world is stunned.

Believe it or not, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman thinks the Marlins could be a stealth bidder for Cano because they are further along in their accumulation of young talent, and no owner has proven more impetuous in spending and selling off than Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

In reality, this scenario is a pipe dream. There’s a better chance the Chicago Cubs will win the 2014 World Series than the Marlins have on spending more than $300 million on one single player. But if the Marlins did pull it off, no one would have seen it coming.

And that’s the point of this exercise, which is we will take a look at what big moves, from least likely to most likely, the “cash-strapped” Miami Marlins could realistically pull off this offseason. 

Begin Slideshow

Every MLB team has an idea of how they think their offseason will play out, or at least how they would like it to, but rarely do things go according to plan during the MLB offseason.

Whether it’s a surprise player hitting the trade market and changing the market for other players at his position, a free-agent signing with an unexpected suitor, a player opting against re-signing when he’s expected to and hitting the open market or something else altogether, there is no shortage of reasons an offseason can be altered.

So here is a look at a few unexpected moves that could shake up the 2013-2014 MLB offseason.

Begin Slideshow

For Washington Nationals fans, the MLB offseason is the time to dream. 

Nats fans can dream about the season that could have been or the season that is yet to come. Or perhaps they can dream about the free agents who will help the team next season. 

Of course, some potential free-agent signings are just that: a dream. A mirage. A figment of the imagination. 

Thankfully for Nats fans, it is only Nov. 8. The offseason alarm clock won’t go off for another five months. So keep dreaming. 

On that note, here are three dream free-agent pickups for the Washington Nationals this offseason. 

Note: All statistics courtesy of MLB.com unless noted otherwise. 

Begin Slideshow

The New York Yankees are preparing for life after Robinson Cano, or so it seems.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the Yankees have made contact with the Cincinnati Reds about second baseman Brandon Phillips:

Phillips is said to be available in the right trade, but word is, the initial price is way too steep. Of course, that’s the way the Yankees look at Cano’s $300 million asking price, as well.

Phillips batted .261 with 103 RBI for the Reds, but is on the market after a couple incidents—one where he complained in a Cincinnati magazine article about how ownership handled his negotiations and another where he went ballistic on a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter after the reporter, Trent Rosecrans, formerly of CBSSports.com, tweeted about Phillips’ low on-base percentage.

Phillips still has four years and $50 million left on his current deal. Compared to what Cano is seeking, that would be a bargain. Then again, what would it cost the Yankees in terms of prospects?

But let’s say the Yankees were able to pull off this trade. What kind of domino effect would it have on the rest of the offseason? What would the Yankees gain or lose replacing Cano with Phillips, and how would it affect Cano’s value on the free-agent market?

What the Yankees Would Gain/Lose

The most obvious thing the Yankees would lose, first and foremost, is prospects. There’s no way that any team can acquire a four-time Gold Glover, and one that had 18 home runs and 103 RBI last year, without giving up something.

Outside of Gary Sanchez, no prospect is truly untouchable for the Yankees, so you could likely see the Reds ask for Mason Williams or Tyler Austin, along with a few pitching prospects.

The Yankees are likely going to want to keep both outfielders since Vernon Wells, Ichiro Suzuki and Alfonso Soriano will all be free agents after next season. They’re going to need some young bodies to place alongside Brett Gardner.

But if Phillips is the target, there’s no way the Reds aren’t getting at least Williams or Austin.

The Yankees would also be giving up on signing Cano, who kept the Yankees afloat this year, batting .314 with 27 home runs and 107 RBI.

Here’s how Phillips and Cano compare over the last two years:

Obviously Cano is better, but Phillips would come at a cheaper price, compared to what Cano wants.

Heyman reported in September that the Yankees balked at Cano’s request of $300 million over 10 years:

The Yankees have said they do not want to repeat a contract of (Alex) Rodriguez’s size. They obviously now view Rodriguez’s contract as an error, though his career path took its own turn with the steroid revelations and two hip surgeries. Cano is healthy and has never been linked to anything untoward.

By trading for Phillips, the Yankees would be guaranteeing Cano won’t be in pinstripes next year.

How Cano’s Free-Agent Value Would Be Affected

Despite the multiple teams that are interested in Cano in free agency, very few would (or even could) make an offer in the neighborhood he is seeking.

The one team (outside of the Yankees) that could easily bankroll the deal, the Los Angeles Dodgers, doesn’t seem like a candidate after signing Cuban second baseman Alexander Guerrero.

Heyman did mention that teams like the Rangers, Cubs, Nationals, Tigers, Mariners, Blue Jays, Orioles, White Sox, Angels and Giants could also have interest in Cano:

In the case of many of these teams, there’s a reason or two Cano may not be a perfect fit (mostly, it’s the money). But with a player of this stature, teams have been known to make room.

The Rangers don’t have much of an infield need since they have Ian Kinsler and Jurickson Profar for second base. The Tigers already have a high payroll for their market. While the Angels are expected to consider trades for second baseman Howie Kendrick, their bigger need would still be pitching.

The Orioles haven’t spent for a top-tier free agent in years. The Nationals like Anthony Rendon, who’ll presumably have to stay at second since Ryan Zimmerman bounced back to finish strong at third base. The Cubs seem to prefer even younger players for their major expenditures.

So, the market wouldn’t look good for Cano to get the kind of money he is seeking.

This doesn’t mean Cano wouldn’t sign with one of those teams. But with a $300 million asking price, most teams won’t come near that. That means Cano is going to have to come down on his asking price.

The bottom line is the Yankees trading for Phillips would be the worst thing for Cano. Without the Yankees, he’s not getting anywhere close to the amount of money he wants.

What Else the Yankees Could Do

By trading for Phillips and not re-signing Cano, the Yankees would have a lot more cap space to make the necessary improvements on the free-agent market this offseason.

The main thing it would allow them to do is to get into a bidding war for free-agent catcher Brian McCann:

When you look at what McCann did last year compared to Yankees’ catchers, it’s really not a contest:

There really is no comparison as McCann is clearly the better choice for the Yankees, at least until Sanchez makes it through the minor league system.

By not signing Cano to a $30 million-a-year deal, the Yankees could easily afford to pay McCann around the $16-17 million Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors projects he’ll get.

The Yankees could also make a serious run at Japanese starter Masahiro Tanaka. While it’s impossible to know what Tanaka’s value is, he will be posted, and teams will have a chance to bid on him.

As Bleacher Report’s Joe Giglio wrote in September, the posting system is a huge guessing game:

When it comes time for posting fees and free agent contracts, Tanaka is likely to receive less than Yu Darvish’s total package, but, considering the dearth of free agent arms outside of Matt Garza, could be worth a total deal around what Anibal Sanchez received last offseason.

Of course, the nature of posting fees and the guessing game around which team will win the rights to offer Tanaka a deal will be just as intriguing as the actual contract he garners.

But given the Yankees’ history of spending money, there’s no doubt they’ll put up a huge bid for Tanaka. By adding Tanaka, the Yankees will have another ace-type starter in their rotation to help take some of the pressure off CC Sabathia.

The Yankees could also look at bringing in a closer like Joe Nathan or Grant Balfour if they don’t feel like David Robertson is the man for the job.

There are so many avenues the Yankees could go if they traded for Phillips and let Cano walk.

The Bottom Line

While it is fun to think about what would happen if the Yankees decided to go another direction, the bottom line is there is no way they’ll let him go to another team.

Cano won’t get the $300-million contract he is seeking, but he’ll get close to what Rodriguez got on his last 10-year deal.

After losing Mariano Rivera to retirement and the end of Derek Jeter’s career coming up, the Yankees need a face of the franchise moving forward. Cano is that guy, and there is no way the Yankees would mess that up by trading for Phillips.

The Yankees may get a little disgruntled by having to shell out more money than they would like to keep Cano in the Bronx. But the bottom line is, they need Cano, and Cano needs them.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com