THE YANKEES WON'T WAIT FOR ROBINSON CANO

This is going to be a good game of chicken.  If I'm the Yankees, I do what Andew Marchand of ESPN reported, you tell the Robinson Cano camp there's a time limit on this whole thing.

"The New York Yankees plan on talking to the agents for Robinson Cano on Monday to reiterate that they will only be able to keep their best offer on the table for so long... If some of the Yankees' targets agreed to deals before Cano decides, then Cano -- who most believe wants to remain in the Bronx -- runs the risk that the Yankees could lower their offer or move on.  

While a source emphasized there is no “ultimatum,” the Yankees feel they only have so much wiggle room above their initial seven-year, $160-plus million offer to Cano, in the context of their $189 million goal."

Here's a hard nosed approach in I'm the Yanks: "Look, we like you, almost love you, but you need to meet us half way, because this isn't about you Mr. Cano, this is about the franchise."    There is nothing wrong with that approach.  Don't believe me? Think about how long Russell Martin waited for the Yankees last off season.  He had a time limit on the Yanks and then made a dash for Pittsburgh.

Look at the Raul Ibanez mess.  He was a believer that the Yankees were going to re-sign him, he told me so, until they didn't.  That in turn allowed Ibanez to make a quick call and sign with Seattle at the last minute. In other words, Time was up. Ibanez put a time frame on the Yanks. I was so pissed, I wrote YANKEE FANS REVOLT: "ENOUGH'S ENOUGH!" suggesting, "There are things that the Yankees have done this off season that has made my blood boil....They're sluggish. They disregard player performance and fan appreciation." That's true, but on the other side, you need to protect yourself as a player, and even as a team.  So, now, after a 2013, 3rd place showing, there is a big picture here. The Yankees have to now field a team for 2014 or there will be a fan mutiny.

That brings me back to Cano and now the Yankees have turned the tables...they are protecting themselves.  Sure they want Cano, but they don't WANT Cano at 10 years, $310 million.  That is freaking insane and ridiculous.  The Yankees made a real nice offer to Cano. He should take it.  Sure, if the Yankees put a time frame on this thing and Cano thinks it won't matter because he can get the money elsewhere, we'll know this was never about the pinstripes OR the fans, it was about greed.  Greed changes people.  Cano could stay grounded, grow, perhaps turn into one of the greatest 2nd basemen ever on the New York Yankees, or he could walk away and probably be forgotten.

I'm going with the latter if he turns his back on us, because in the end, it was the pinstripes and the fans propping him up that made Cano a star in baseball and in New York.  I'm not so sure he'll be that same star in Los Angeles with the Angels, or in Detroit with the Tigers... those cities are just not the Bronx.  

Wake up Robbie... call your parents...chat about it. Open your eyes.

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