OT - Cano to Mariners: 10 years, $240 million
Robinson Cano is headed to the Seattle Mariners, agreeing to terms on a 10-year, $240 million contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations...
He didn't do too badly: Cano's deal equals Albert Pujols' as the third-largest in baseball history, behind only the two contracts Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers (in 2000) and the Yankees (after the 2007 season).
Cano's agreement with the Mariners was first reported by ESPN Deportes.
The Mariners' winning offer was $80 million more than the Yankees' seven-year, $160 million offer two weeks ago...
December 6th, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^
Are baseball teams seriously still giving out contracts like that? Congratulations on selling your future for a 31 year old player.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
I'm worried a little as a tigers fan. That move now frees up a lot of Yankees cash and cashmam has shown propensity to build good teams when not hamstrung by his own stupid Mega single player deals.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^
There was a tweet this morning from someone who provided what I find to be an interesting factoid - the Mariners may very well spend more on Cano than on all signings combined in the last 5 or 6 years (I believe that was the timeframe given). That shows a rather interesting change of stance on investment by the club, if that is indeed the case.
That being said, there are also a few tweets from Tim Brown at Yahoo! and others which read that the Mariners also will confirm anything at this time (interesting). That, and if you search Cano's name on Twitter, the things Yankee fans are saying are as unreal as they are inappropriate.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
Well before this, the biggest contract in Mariners history is Felix Hernandez 7 yrs 175 million.
And before that was Adrian Beltre at 5 yrs 64 million.
The Mariners have a new billion dollar TV deal in place, which helps. Also, their owner, Nintendo of America, has finally decided to invest in the team again.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
NINTENDO OWNS THE MARINERS?!?! that seems kinda weird to me, but apparently the braves and blue jays are also owned by companies. weird
December 6th, 2013 at 2:43 PM ^
Yeah, Nintendo of America bought them in the 90s to prevent the team from moving out of Seattle. Their president of baseball operations, Howard Lincoln, was one of Nintendo's main lawyers in the 70s and 80s, and helped counter sue Universal Studios when they tried getting Donkey Kong off of the market. Lincoln plowed through Universal's bullshit, won the case, and got them to pay money to Nintendo.
Anyways, NoA let then-GM Bll Bavasi spend money. Unfortunately Bill Bavasi was possibly the worst GM in the history of GMs, and paid never was players a lot of money en route to the Mariners being the first team ever to lose 100 games while having a 100 million dollar payroll.
Since that debacle and Bavasi getting fired, the Mariners have been lowering payroll every year until all of Bavasi's horrible contracts have come off the books. Now before Cano's signing and arbitration, the Mariners have 33.25 million on their payroll. So they have A LOT of money to spend, and they made the biggest splash they possibly could, and have a lot of money left over to get some more players.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^
Also, the Mariners cannot confirm anything until Cano takes his physical, which should happen on Monday.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
Good for Cano for getting so much money but how many of these huge contracts have to blow up in teams faces before they realize that they are a terrible idea?
December 6th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^
and yet that's what he's going to be paid at the ripe old age of 40.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
In hindsite, what is 24 or 25 mil a year going to get within even 5 years? Hunter Pence got 5/90.
Tim Lincecum after two straight bad years is getting paid 18 mil.
Carl Crawford is getting paid 20 mil.
Prince Fielder is getting paid just as much as Cano.
I don't think 25 mil annually in baseball is gonig to be as big of a deal in 5 years than it is now, or five years ago.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^
Disagree. If you notice, top-level salaries haven't really changed much since A-Rod signed his insane deal a decade ago. It's very hard to justify paying that much for one player. $25M is a lot of tickets to sell.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:52 PM ^
He may still hit over .300, but good luck hitting 30 HR playing 81 games at Safeco.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:35 PM ^
Based on his homers last year, everything he hit out based on distance would still be home runs in Safeco.
http://i.imgur.com/Ev7l3Ez.jpg
Remember that Seattle brought their fences in a bit last year.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
Seattle still needs like 3 more bats to be contend, they obviously needed a big move to help bring fans back but this really doesn't help them become a better team than the A's or the Rangers in the west.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
And the dumb thing is that Cano isn't going to put butts in seats. I have been trolling a few Mariner buddies and they all hate this deal.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
Mariners are currently going after Choo, Napoli, Beltran, and Cruz. They're also looking into possibly trading for Matt Kemp.
I'm alright with any/all of those guys going to Seattle except for Cruz.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:05 PM ^
Grandy went to the Mets for 4 years at 60 million
December 6th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
of these mega contracts. ARod twice, Pujols, Hamilton, Fielder, etc. None of them have or will perform up to their contracts.
December 6th, 2013 at 5:34 PM ^
Or perhaps as fans we don't understand the real value of performance. If a team could guarentee a 30HR and .900 OPS season, perhaps this is worth $50M/season.
The reason these contracts seem so bloated is that a huge fraction of baseball players are underpaid because they are either arbitration or pre-arbitration. If all players had a 2 year rookie deal and then became FAs, then 31 year olds like Cano would not get this kind of money, younger players would make more, and there'd be more fairness. Because so many are systematically underpaid, it frees up more money for the FAs to really cash in.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^
Living in the NW and being a Mariners fan I am excited about cano. I am worried about the second half of the contract. At least I feel like the mariners are trying to do something other than sit around and sign players who were good 6 years ago. They do need a few more bats to be contenders but thy have more plans in mind as well.
December 6th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
Agreed about the second half of the contract, but Cano is a culture changer for the franchise. He can show other top tier FAs that you can go to Seattle.
Jack Z. isn't close to being done yet.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:11 PM ^
The problem is the precedent this has set is that FAs going to Seattle can expect to get overpaid in order to lure them there.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^
I would never want to give a guy a 10-year contract. That is guaranteed to become a millstone around the franchise's neck down the road. There is zero chance he plays at a level worthy of that salary in his last few years.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:24 PM ^
Couple of things to remember is that Mariners have not been spending much over the last few years except for Felix. Currently the only fan attraction is Felix and this at least gives the team another player to promote.
The Mariners GM is in the last year of his contract and is doing everything he can to keep that job. This is certainly part of that.
Pitching wise Seattle needs to get another solid starter and some rumors are that Seattle is shopping their best pitching prospect for Price.
As a fan, I am happy Seattle finally did something in the free agency market. I feel that it an over pay but this team really had no one to watch other than Felix and it's nice to see something finally happen with this team.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:44 PM ^
As a Yankee fan I'm obviously sorry to see his talent go but I'm glad that the Yankees refused to match the deal. They were right to stand firm at 7 years. Giving Cano 10 yrs is nuts. Now that it's over I am excited to see them use his money to fill out all of the other holes on the team. We won't have the best second baseman in MLB anymore but we'll be able to upgrade in other spots.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^
I share you sentiments. Wish we had Cano for the next few years but not from ages 37-41 at $25MM a pop. I'm glad the Yankees finally let a player walking rather than match their exhorbitant salary demands.
December 6th, 2013 at 4:16 PM ^
Well, you've already signed Ellsbury and McCann, so I'm not sure who else - of any value -you can sign. Napoli? You haven't addressed pitching needs, but there's no quality FA pitchers on the market this year.
December 6th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
They resigned Kuroda. So the pitchers so far are Sabathia, Kuroda and Nova. Not sure what if anything to expect from Michael Pineda (looks like that trade was a bust for both teams). Only other person who got more than one start last year is David Phelps... Guess they are hoping things work out with Japan and then get Tanaka. Certainly no FA pitchers out there worth anything
December 6th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^
I feel like this is a terrible thing for Jay-Z's new agency. You just took your most high profile client, pulled him out of the biggest media market (a place where you're from to boot), and jettisoned him to American sports Siberia. They had to get a deal done with the Yanks, but I guess it's pretty apparent at this point that Cano was all about the Benjamins.
December 6th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^
So stupid
December 6th, 2013 at 4:54 PM ^
What a complete deuche! He so fucked up and will regret it. All he has to do is ask Albert P, Josh Hamilton, Beltre
He could if went down as one of the all time Yankee greats and been on that monument. Now his number w be next to Dave Kingman. I'm lost for words as Jay Z messed this up bad. NY would of have a little more but ... I'm shocked and pissed
December 6th, 2013 at 5:00 PM ^
Not sure Beltre belongs in that group...
December 6th, 2013 at 5:51 PM ^
I don't understand why anyone in baseball would get a 10-year deal. That's a long, long time for a player who might fall off or get injured.
December 6th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
I don't like this deal. I like watching the Yankees suffer as their payroll is crippled