NY Post:
Brian Cashman has no delusions about his team’s top free-agent target this winter, longtime Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. The Yankees general manager, often brutally honest, admitted Tuesday he anticipates Cano will wind up with his highest bidder. Cashman just hopes his team bids highest.
“He loves the money, but I think we’ll have a substantial offer,” Cashman said at the general managers’ meetings. “Somebody might come in and have a much more substantial offer. It’s just the way it works.”
The Yankees have discussed a seven-year contract worth $161 million or $168 million with Cano, who asked the club for a 10-year, $310 million deal. To date, no other suitor has emerged publicly for Cano’s services. Nevertheless, Cashman expects Cano to work deliberately through the free-agency process — “Usually the big ones drag it out,” Cashman said — and he professed he wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees got outbid and Cano chose the higher bid.
“It’s just the way it works. He’s in free agency. That’s the feeling I get,” Cashman said. “Doesn’t make it wrong at all. That’s what makes the U.S. the greatest place in the world. We just have to compete for that.
“I feel very comfortable we’ll strongly compete for the player. But the value we put on him and the value somebody else puts on him might be vastly different. If it is, we’ll lose him.”