Originally Posted by The Poet

It's a struggle, believe me.

And I never said the Yankees could not afford to outbid the M's for Cano if they wanted to. I said they didn't want to. They have had enough of huge long-term contracts hanging around their necks, and they have had enough of paying other teams' freight through the luxury tax. The Yanks were also blindsided a bit by Cano, and thought they were in preliminary negotiations when Robbie suddenly jumped the Yankee Clipper for another shipful of sailors. But why are you obsessing over the money, which was NOT the issue? It was the 10 years that was the sticking point, not the cash, and Cashman (who for some strange reason seems to believe he knows Robbie Cano a bit better than the Mariners . . . or you) balked at the prospect of committing to an additional decade with an infielder who's already 31 . . . and who, good as he is psssst, don't tell anybody has a few holes in his game.

Did the Yanks make a mistake? Maybe. Time will tell. One thing's for sure though. Sign him or not sign him, they were gonna get criticized for it either way. They are the Yankees, and that's what people do.