ROBINSON'S RETURN: PART 2: A HARD KNOCK LIFE

It was like being excited to see a hyped up movie. The previews were impressive. I knew the cast and had always enjoyed their work. This would be entertaining for sure…and then, well... not so much. It was a letdown that made you wish you’d saved your time and money and caught the show on cable or as an in-flight movie.

That pretty much sums up how I felt after heading to the cold, rainy Bronx to see the return of Robinson Cano. It was a flop all the way around. The stories about the game won’t revolve around the wheels coming off CC Sabathia’s start. You won’t get much on the lifeless Yankee offense or the bitter cold and rainy, windy conditions. No, what you read about is how the “classless”, “spoiled” Yankee fans unfairly and unapologetically booed their former second baseman.

It’s true the fairly empty Stadium’s volume level went to “11” when Cano was introduced. The Bleacher Creatures gave Robbie a Roll Call-like shout out, only to shower him with a barrage of “YOU SOLD OUT! YOU SOLD OUT!” when the multi-multi millionaire turned to acknowledge them. Was it nice? No. Was it fair? I can’t say. Everyone has their own take on the messy divorce between the Yankees and Cano.

I myself threw Robbie slightly more than a “Golf clap” when he stepped up to the plate in the first inning. Cano wasn’t a good Yankee; he was a great Yankee in nine seasons in the Bronx. Yes, he didn’t hustle out grounders, but he did a lot of things to help the team win. I guess nobody’s perfect (aside from Derek Jeter). I felt, as I said in Part 1, that Robbie deserved a welcome back and thank you in his first at bat…and then nothing more. The constant and vicious booing was over the top to be sure, but is Robbie a victim? NO WAY, NO HOW, ladies and gentlemen. And unfortunately that’s how the baseball writers are spinning it.

Here is the bottom line in the saga of the Yankees vs. Robinson Cano. Neither side is absolutely innocent or guilty, but Robbie and Jay Z’s Company are doing their best portray themselves as disrespected and unloved. That is where I feel the boos were warranted. If baseball is a business then it is a business. That’s it. You can’t have it both ways, Robinson. You can’t say you simply took the better offer (the 10 year deal you wouldn’t negotiate on) and then say, “The Yankees hurt my feelings and I had to leave.” That’s nonsense. The truth is Cano wanted the ARod and Big Al type money and years. He wanted to be a Jay Z client and he was okay going wherever he was offered said deal. The fact is the Yankees have been burned on 10-year deals and they weren’t going to give anyone over 30 that type of contract. That’s fair. I also feel that the Yankees were never fans of dealing with Jay Z and his OUT OF HIS MIND initial 10 years/ 300 million asking price. That was the wrong way to start negotiations and the Yankees closed the book on being “warm and fuzzy’ with their homegrown star early on.

The Bronx Bombers and their fans will be the bad guys…because we are ALWAYS the bad guys. Vilifying the Yanks and New Yorkers sells papers and gets views. It’s easy and baseball writers dine out on it. So don’t get upset when you read the likes of Jon Heyman up on his soapbox telling you that the Yankee fans are wrong and unfair. Don’t lose sleep when a guy like Jimmy Traina takes a break from fantasizing that he and Erin Andrews are destine to be together to bash his fellow Yankee fans. He’s just better than all of us I guess. (Look him up and have a chuckle at that line.)

The game was lousy because the Yankees didn’t play well. They didn’t beat a team that they should have rolled over. The M’s are not a good team even with Robinson Cano and the Yanks played down to the competition. That’s it. If this team wants to be there in October they need to take care of business with teams they should beat. It’s not about Cano anymore. It’s 2014 and Robinson Cano is no longer our player or our problem. He was and is a great baseball player. He got what he wanted and is in no way a victim. The Yankee made their choice and Cano made his. That’s all there is to this story now.

I froze my butt off to see the Yankees beat the Mariners in the Seattle-like weather that had a choke hold on the New York area that night. I left disappointed, not in the fans but in the way the club played. The Mariners were better on this night…and Robinson Cano had little to do with it.

Will Robbie always be public enemy number 1 with the Yankee fan base? No. Playing out in the Pacific Northwest will make him a blimp on the radar twice a year. The story will fade as Spring turns to Summer and we’ll all move on. It was just business right? So file in the WINTER 2013 pile and forget about it. With Pineda and Nova injured and a ever tightening AL East, the Yankees got 99 problems and Cano ain’t one.

Goodbye Robbie.

** Here’s one for Cano. I don’t want him to feel disrespected or unloved. Gosh, you’d think he was orphaned by the Yankees and given a hard knock life…and NO I won’t stoop to taking Shawn’s sampled version. **



 

--Mike O'Hara, MLB Fan Cave Host, Season 1
   Twitter: @mikeyoh21
"Paulie was always my favorite player."


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