More than a few listeners groaned when they heard the longtime
New York Yankee radio announcer unleash this and similar hosannas created for
each player. But it was hard to be displeased with this particular subject.
With his smooth fielding, the sweet swing seen in
the accompanying photo, and overall consistency, Cano easily sustained
comparisons with Bobby Richardson and Willie Randolph, two quiet but key
pillars of past Yankee championship teams. When he became a free agent after
the 2013 season, he was in position not merely for a hefty salary increase but,
if he remained on his trajectory at the time, for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Fans like me had plenty of reason to lament Cano’s
decision to spurn the team’s seven-year, $160-million contract offer for the
Seattle Mariners’ 10 year, $240-million proposal.
His move across the continent, coinciding with the
deterioration of more celebrated aging stars like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez
and Mark Teixeira, marked the team’s steepest fall from grace since its
millennial glory days. Replacements Starlin Castro, Brian Roberts, Donovan
Solano, Stephen Drew, Jose Pirela, Gregorio Petit and Tyler Wade exhibited none
of his staying power or steady brilliance, even as Cano earned three more
All-Star appearances.
These last couple of days, that gloominess appears wildly
misplaced. It wasn’t only that, through seven subsequent seasons with the
Mariners and New York Mets, Cano never played in a single postseason game, as he had
done in all but two of his nine years with the Yankees.
No, it’s because, following a second failed drug test that this time triggers a season-long suspension, his career may be over, along with
any chance of entering Cooperstown as anything more than a tourist.
It’s hard to feel sorry for a player who acted so
myopically and maddeningly, in multiple ways:
*By watching what happened to Yankee teammates and
friends Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera, Cano should have realized he ran a grave
risk of being caught for using substances banned by major league baseball;
*When he was suspended for 80 games after testing
positive in 2018 for using Furosemide, Cano said in a prepared statement that it
was not a “performing-enhancing drug,” even though it has been used to mask the
presence of steroids and other banned substances, and insisted that it was “given
to me by a licensed doctor in the Dominican Republic to treat a medical ailment,”
without naming either the physician or condition—a lame contention similar to a
past President’s insistence that he “didn’t inhale” when he smoked pot;
*When he resumed his career, this time after being
traded to the Mets, Cano should have known that the scrutiny he would endure in
the nation’s media capital would be even more intense than before;
*With his second failed test resulting from the
presence in his system of Stanozolol, the same drug leading to the suspension
of Rafael Palmeiro 15 years ago, Cano ignored the lessons of history—and used a
substance even easier to detect than Furosemide;
*With the increased drug testing following the 2013 Biogenesis
investigation that ensnared A-Rod and Ryan Braun, Cano should have understood
that his chances of avoiding discovery for a prolonged period were growing ever
more limited.
In a statement released after the test results were released, Mets President Sandy Alderson could barely conceal his extreme irritation
with the star once considered a cornerstone of the team’s future pennant
hopes:
“We were extremely disappointed to be informed about
Robinson's suspension for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug
prevention and treatment program. The violation is very unfortunate for him,
the organization, our fans, and the sport. The Mets fully support MLB's efforts
toward eliminating performance enhancing substances from the game."
At least, by forfeiting his entire salary for 2021,
Cano has given the Mets $24 million that they can use on coveted free agents—and
the ability to place Jeff McNeill, a player 10 years younger than the
veteran, into his natural position at second base.
(In a blog post for station NBC Chicago, Gordon
Wittenmyer can barely restrain himself in considering how this Cano-generated maneuvering
might lead to an intense round of calls between the Mets and a Cubs team
seeking to offload expensive contracts.)
Cano has also given Bronx Bomber fans two things: gratitude,
with Thanksgiving only a week away, that Brian Cashman didn’t make Cano an
A-Rod-style albatross with a decade-long contract seven years ago, and the freedom to speculate about the Yankee
GM's reluctance to offer a more whopping salary because of Cano’s rumored source for his prodigious power numbers.
(Cashman’s 2018 disclaimer to USA Today
reporters Pete Caldera and Steve Gardner that he would have been “compelled
to tell'' major league baseball about Cano’s PED use, or incur a fine in excess
of $1 million and possible loss of his job, does not resolve that question,
given the GM’s carefully worded follow-up: "Knowledge is one thing,
suspicion is another.'')
As for Cano, his acceptance of responsibility for “everything
that goes into my body” comes too late for a player whose career statistics—including
a .303 batting average, 334 home runs and 2,624 hits—would have made him a
near-certainty for eventual enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. I guess maybe he’s
banking on the short memory of Cooperstown voters, just as he once believed he
could evade tougher drug-testing regimens for as long as it took.
(The accompanying photo of Robinson Cano, then playing
for the New York Yankees, was taken on May 17, 2008, originally posted to
Flickr as "DSC_0049"and cropped by UCinternational.)
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