Ever since word surfaced the Mets could be acquiring Robinson Cano, I have heard and seen the outrage and even did unscientific polling by asking Mets fans to list their problems with obtaining the second baseman.
Lots pointed to the fact he is 36 and signed through his age-40 season. There was outrage over taking on a significant portion of the five years at $120 million left on his contract. Many were concerned about the quality of prospects going to the Mariners. There was fretting about blocking Jeff McNeil at second base and even worries expressed about the lack of a DH in the NL for Cano to fall into should he become a fielding detriment.
You know what I hardly encountered? Indignation the Mets were obtaining a player who missed half of the 2018 season due to a failed test for a banned substance.
Remember when reputation used to matter in this country? Now, we don’t care much anymore if someone breaks the rules, only how breaking the rules might impact (fill in the name of my favorite team).
Cano accepted a 10-year, $240 million contract from the Mariners and it is a possibility the whole thing was a fraud. Of course, Cano says it wasn’t. Last May, when he was banned for 80 games, Cano offered in a statement: “I have never tested positive for a Performance Enhancing Substance for the simple reason that I have never taken one.” He had actually tested positive for a substance commonly used to mask usage.
Those who test positive would fit right in with the convicts at Shawshank. What does Morgan Freeman’s Red say: “Everyone in here is innocent, you know that.” Everyone is innocent even when the PED test says they are guilty. It was all a mistake, a misunderstanding, a misinterpretation. No one knowingly used performance enhancers.
The main character witness here for Cano is Brodie Van Wagenen. At the time of that suspension, Van Wagenen was Cano’s co-agent. His company at the time, CAA, sent out the statement, so Van Wagenen, at minimum, vetted the words. Cano also likely confided in him, trusted him.
The key piece the Mets are receiving from Seattle in their pending trade is star closer Edwin Diaz. But Van Wagenen sees Cano as more than just the price that had to be paid for the Mets to land a 24-year-old elite arm. He thinks Cano is still a high-level performer and a savvy player, a guy worth bringing in despite his age, cost, quality of prospects going to the Mariners (Justin Dunn, Jarred Kelenic and Gerson Bautista), Jeff McNeil’s presence or the lack of a DH in the NL — and, oh yeah, that little 80-game suspension last year.Met fans might not be making much of that detail now, but if Cano is, say, hitting .180 on April 28 with one homer, you think the faithful might be letting him know he is nothing without the drugs. Van Wagenen had to sell what has been a financially cautious ownership that his first big move should include taking on Cano — not just the finances, but the baggage.
Van Wagenen is gambling that the version of Cano he is getting does not fail another test — the punishment next time is a year — and doesn’t take a tumble as a presumed clean player. Cano played well after his return from suspension, posting a .317 average and .860 OPS. But if he was cheating, it is not like the benefits evaporate with the end of the ban.
Who shows up for the Mets? One AL West executive who saw Cano before and after the 2018 ban told me, “Cano was as good offensively in our opinion as at any point during his five years in Seattle.” Another said: “His bat and offensive skills looked vintage. His defense was borderline vintage.” One last one: “Offensively he was very similar [to his peak]. His body was thicker and he didn’t move as well.”
If his bat is in 2019 what these officials saw in 2018, then I assume Mets fans will line up like every other fan base behind their guy — morality apparently is not as important as the final score for your favorite team. Why should Van Wagenen and the Mets deprive themselves of a player they like when MLB — which issued the ban on Cano — has elevated Alex Rodriguez to favorite son, when not too long ago he was baseball enemy No. 1. Hi, my name is hypocrisy, what’s yours?Look, Cano is a likeable guy. I have always enjoyed talking to him and his reputation is as a good teammate. Only he truly knows why the banned diuretic Furosemide was in his body. But it was. He was banned. It is on his record. Van Wagenen, who had to shepherd Cano through that suspension, is doubling down on his guy now as the Mets general manager.
It is a heck of a risk for the first huge move for a first-time GM.