BORAS DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE STREET

According to Scott Boras, this whole "Jay-Z creepin’" and then "snagging Robinson Cano away" thing came out of nowhere.  In Ken Rosenthal’s piece HERE, Boras says of his relationship with Cano:

“We never heard from him regarding anything but his approval of the process that we discussed way back in October… We had three communications with him after he signed the representation agreement. We never heard anything from him to suggest that anything was other than he desired.”

So Boras, probably embarrassed by this whole mess is  clearly is putting this at the fault of  Cano and doesn’t think he did anything wrong here. But it's my opinion, that as a sports agent, you have 1 job. You work with your client and get him the best deal that the client wants... NOT what the agent wants!  I have felt as though Scott Boras has always done his best “lawyer speak” to convince athletes of doing ultimately what he wants, as to line his pockets and be the "most successful" sports agent ever. The idea of pitting player against team doesn’t matter to him, because he can chalk it up as “business", and “loyalty” goes out the window. Look, that’s my take from the outside looking in... an observation, and a smart one at that.  But one thing had to happen in this Cano dash… the street was calling him.  Family crept into his decision and it was his roots that ultimately helped him walk away from Boras.

Robbie knew he wanted to be with the Yankees and knew the Yankees wanted to be with him and when that “significant” offer came down the pike and was squashed by Boras way before the season started, Cano got gangsta, and hence went over to the true gangsta, Jay Z who is partnered with CAA and there you have it.. Boras was served. In other words... Cano knew he had a group of people that were giving him better advice than the guy that should have been giving it to him all along. Andrew Marchand of ESPN wrote that it came down to a "family decision" and Cano said "A lot of people said good decision..." read it all HERE.

So where are we now? Well, negotiation time is coming and a deal will get done, as suggested when we wrote CANO SPLITS FROM BORAS; EXPECT A DEAL SOON. Why? Because Scott Boras didn’t truly know what Cano wanted. And hey, maybe we can give Boras the benefit of the doubt here; Maybe Cano just didn’t care to deal with Boras anymore and stopped the communication like Boras suggests.  But hey… maybe Scott pissed Cano off when that last offer was rejected by the Yankees and Robbie just washed his hands with it all. 

Ian O'Connor of ESPN wrote a terrific piece HERE, about the whole Robinson Cano, Jay-Z love fest and called it the Yankees first win.  I subscribe to that, but not so much because of the Jay-Z angle, but more importantly, because Cano, and Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira before him, all walked away from the super agent.  O'Connor writes: "The Yankees made what Cashman had called in February a "significant offer" to Cano and Boras, and according to a baseball source, that offer was "rejected out of hand." No negotiations were taking place, and his own résumé said Boras had no interest in making an in-season deal with the Yankees, not this close to free agency.

Jay-Z? Truth is, other than his stated allegiance to their team, the Yankees don't really know what to make of him. As part of the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets ownership team, Jay-Z was supposed to be a major player in recruiting his friend, LeBron James, to the marketplace. And when it became clear LeBron wasn't buying what Jay-Z was selling, wasn't even returning some of his messages, Nets officials were disappointed, even a bit embarrassed for him.

But this an entirely different case. Cano is a Jay-Z client, not a Jay-Z friend. Liberated from Boras, master of A-Rod's opt-out disaster in 2007, the Yankees will take their chances with the rapper and Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA, which has a history of extending star players with their employing teams." 

Look, at the end of the day, this IS a win for the Yankees, just to get rid of Boras, but there is one important part of this... and I don't want to rain on any Yankee fans parade here, but I'm just putting it into perspective; Jay Z is a businessman and I too, don't think he'll just roll over and give the Yankees whatever they want for Cano.  I also realize that Jay Z is not a sports agent and will be working with CAA to make a deal work.  My only point is, it's bigger than just signing on with Jay Z and  then just walking over the Yankee Stadium and getting a deal done.  It will be complicated when it comes to Jay Z, because as Ian says, "Yankees don't really know what to make of him." They don't! It's very true.

In the end though, it needs to come down to Robinson Cano and for months now on BYB we have stated that Cano needed to have the final say. I hated the idea of Boras being involved and no Jay Z shouldn't truly negotiate a thing... it needs to come from Cano, the same way he walked away from Boras, surrounded by family, he needs to do the same with this deal with the Yankees. It’s a comfort thing and it should be.  Cano got nervous when it came to Boras, I believe that.  Cano didn’t like the way he was handled and Cano didn’t want to lose out of the best team ever in sports. So he walked out of Boras’s office and into Jay-Z’s.  Not because it was Jay-Z, but because he knew he could speak his mind about his own fate and not be bullied into blowing a deal with the only ream that has ever let him play 2^nd base in professional baseball, the New York Yankees… 

Sure, we just need to see how this thing plays out, but I feel good right now. I feel like Robinson Cano is coming back home for the rest of his Yankee career and in the end, the decision will be all Robbie’s… it’s a family decision. It's a comfort thing and now Cano's in control... that's all.

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