Los Angeles: Today the Mets Designated Robinson Cano for Assignment (DFA). That is a fancy word for your career in baseball is riding off into the sunset cowboy.
Cano who is from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, was the every day second baseman for the Yankee from 2005-2013. A team that dominated while he was there. Winning the World Series in 2009. He was a big part of their success then as a slick fielding wizard and an explosive hitter.
For his part in that championship year Cano batted .320, 25 HR, with 83 RBIs. In 674 plate appearances he only struck out 63 times. He is a career .302 hitter, a Latino Sports MVP winner in 2010 and 2011, an eight-time MLB All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner.
When he left the Yankees as a free agent in 2014 he signed a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners. Five years later, the Mets traded for Cano in December 2018. They were told that if they wanted closer Edwin Díaz, Naguabo, Puerto Rico and the 2018 Latino Sports AL reliever of the year winner, they would have to take Cano and the remainder of his $72 million salary for two years. Jarred Kelenic was the top prospect going to the Mariners in that deal. But the Mets did not get much on the field from Cano in two years.
Little did they know that on top of injuries that limited his playing time, a suspension for testing positive for PED’s would take him away for all of 2021. The Mets will still have to eat $37.5 million remaining on his contract after sitting out 2021. Being DFA was not a surprise when the Mets had to trim their roster from 28 to 26 players.
For me he was one of the most complete second baseman I have ever seen. Both on defense and at the plate. A first-rate teammate and respectful to both opponents and umpires. Having only been ejected once, in 2017.
It is sad that this all around nice guy and incredibly talented ballplayer will leave the game with the stigma of the steroid era on his career after being suspended twice for PED’s. Hopefully fans will remember him as a very good player and teammate.
I get it. The easy availability of PED’s has made its use problematic in sports and it’s not just baseball. Baseball gets the bad rap more than any other sport. Why these gifted athletes use them is not hard to understand. It can make them into mega stars and enable them to have massive incomes.
But there are consequences. It can destroy all that they have worked so hard for many years to achieve. Some of these users think it is worth it. Health wise it can be a slow death both physically and mentally.
Robinson Cano may have been a borderline HOF player with or without PED’s. We will never know.
