Now that the dust has settled on the Robinson Cano signing, I’d like to look back at what transpired between Cano, the Yankees, the Mariners and the fans. But mostly I’d like to look at the fans.
First, let’s touch on something CC Sabathia said about Cano moving on. In a recent interview he said that being a Yankee lifer “didn’t matter that much” to Cano. No evil implied. Sabathia simply meant that Cano wanted to do what was best for him and his family, and he believed taking as many guaranteed dollars as he could get was the correct course of action.
Meanwhile, Derek Jeter, baseball’s perfect son who bleeds pinstripes, said that while he would have liked to continue playing with Cano as his partner up the middle, he’s neither surprised nor upset that Cano moved on, understands why he left, and is happy for him.
People on the team get that this happens. And they really should considering it’s how most of them came to the Yankees in the first place. The Yankees are notorious player poachers. Heck, they just poached Jacoby Ellsbury. How then can the fan base be so rankled when it happens to them?
I can’t speak for all Yankees fans, but there is a stalwart faction out there that believe playing for the Yankees is somehow superior to playing for any other franchise because it’s the Yankees. Moreover, they take it personally that anyone would choose a suitor other than the Yankees if the Yankees are offering their hand in contract nuptials. Many of them—the ones flocking to social media—take Cano’s leaving for more money as a sign of avarice, or arrogance, or a lack of Hawk Harrelson’s most important statistic: The Will To Win.
For about three days, it seemed that everything that could be drudged up to throw at Cano was. Cano didn’t like playing for Joe Girardi. He didn’t care about New York. He didn’t care about winning or championships. He was greedy. He was always about the money. He let it be known he wanted to leave. He wasn’t that well liked by his teammates. He didn’t always hustle.
Then it became: Jay-Z doesn’t really care about New York. He is all about the money. He’s a fake and a liar who doesn’t have The Will To Win….
In all honesty, it was petulant behavior from a hurt fan base. They were lashing out with whatever sharp (and false) arguments they could get their hands on.
While I do understand that the Yankees are the winningest franchise in baseball, that doesn’t mean that in the next, say, 10 seasons, they’re guaranteed to win anything. However, Robinson Cano is guaranteed to make $240 million over that same span, win or lose. And while there is indeed something special about playing for the Yankees, one of the world’s most prolific franchises, it’s not like there haven’t been big-name athletes who’ve made millions in sponsorship deals outside the Empire State’s Empire City.
And what, exactly, is so bad about Seattle? Since Cano decided to play there, angry Yankee fans have treated it like some irradiated, post-apocalyptic wasteland. Seattle is a jewel of a city in an income tax–free state! I’d love to live there, and would move for way less. No city is like New York, I get it, but somehow the residents of other cities seem to get on just fine.
Moreover, the greed/arrogance argument that surrounds big contracts always floors me. Always. This thinking that, if at any point in his career a player says he loves playing where he’s playing, then he should never leave that place, even if offered a ludicrously large some of money to go. To leave after making such a confession makes the player a liar, a cheater, selfish and greedy.
I’m sorry, but this simply isn’t true. Cano probably cherishes all his time in New York, but he decided to go because it was what was best for his personal situation. If anything, believing that, as an outsider, the fan has the right to tell the player what his personal priorities and desires should be is the arrogant part. Cano probably still loves New York—even though saying it now will get him sneered at—but only in the sense that a person can love working at a job until confronted with a superior position elsewhere. And there are very few of us that would look at an upgrade to set-for-life dollars in a beautiful city and say, “No, people might think I’m greedy. I’d better not.”
Again, while many say that the “elsewhere” in this equation isn’t going to win as much as New York, remember that for Cano, the big win of his career is this monster contract. He’s already got a championship under his belt. Most players’ careers will be over before they get either. In some senses, he’d be disrespecting the game not to take it.
And who’s to say this signing won’t work out for the Mariners (at least in the short term—no way Cano lives up to the money into his later years). The Mariners are looking to make some major additions to their roster, and have the payroll and prospects to wheel and deal now, or play for the future. The Yankees on the other hand are getting older and more expensive in a division that’s getting more competitive.
I understand why fans get upset when players leave. I really do. Fans invest a lot into their favourite players, and in what those players can do for their favourite team. But very few players will ever be in the position to take a hometown discount. First, because they are part of a union and taking a lower offer hurts the bargaining precedent. Second, because there are massive disparities in payroll flexibility in any given season and discounts aren’t always in proportion. Third, because if you do take the discount and go on to suck, fans will hate you anyway. And finally, because this is a for-profit enterprise.
That means there is always going to be a cruel bottom line that we all have to be prepared to face, no matter how much we love a player.
