{"id":1265,"date":"2013-11-20T10:12:22","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T15:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2013-11-20T10:54:06","modified_gmt":"2013-11-20T15:54:06","slug":"tuesday-teabag-november-19-2013-roc-nation-sports-and-robinson-cano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=1265","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, November 19, 2013 – Roc Nation Sports and Robinson Cano"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Got<\/a>

Got 99 problems but Cano ain’t one (yet).<\/p><\/div>\n

We interrupt this NFL season to bring you some news from the diamond.\u00a0 We\u2019re just two weeks away from Baseball\u2019s Winter Meetings, and things are starting to heat up.\u00a0 Not familiar with the phenomenon that is the Winter Meetings?\u00a0 It\u2019s the one time a year where GMs\u00a0and Execs from all 30 teams get together to discuss current issues in baseball (why no one under 50 watches), potential rule changes (expanded instant replay), and free agents.\u00a0 There\u2019s more excitement in the Winter Meetings than the first half of the baseball season.\u00a0 There\u2019s also more bullshit than a Congressional hearing on Obamacare, especially when it comes to free agents.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to the Winter Meetings, teams and shameless<\/span> agents will try to pimp<\/span>\u00a0create buzz for their players, in the hopes of striking it rich at the Winter Meetings, or planting the seeds to strike it rich.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no better example than this than with Robinson Cano.<\/p>\n

Cano is the prize jewel of this years\u2019 free agency class.\u00a0 He\u2019s played his entire 9 year career with the Yankees, and is now looking to ca$h in on free agency.\u00a0 Sure, he\u2019s a great player that will add value to any lineup.\u00a0 But is he a player you build your team around?\u00a0 Is he a franchise player?\u00a0 Well, if you believe his agents, he\u2019s that and much, much more.<\/p>\n

Yes, Cano\u2019s sports agent, led by Jay Z and Roc Nation Sports, are playing crazy<\/span>\u00a0hardball trying to drive up the price.\u00a0 First, they are pushing for a 10 year, $310 million dollar contract.\u00a0 The Yankees have offered 7 years, $160 million.\u00a0 $310 million would easily make Cano\u00a0the highest paid player in baseball, but that\u2019s not even the craziest thing.\u00a0 No, the crazy part is Team Cano is comparing him to Michael Jordan<\/a>.\u00a0 Wait, what?\u00a0 You don\u2019t throw out an MJ comparison unless you can be damn sure to back it up.\u00a0 As a general rule, we loathe when people make MJ comparisons…only Kobe comes close.\u00a0 And in Cano\u2019s case, it\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n

Before we get to the MJ thing, let\u2019s look at some other factors, like stats.\u00a0 Here\u2019s Cano\u2019s numbers compared to A-Rod\u2019s first 9 full years in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/td>\nCano<\/b><\/td>\nA-Rod<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Home Runs<\/b><\/td>\n204<\/td>\n376<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RBI<\/b><\/td>\n822<\/td>\n1075<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hits<\/b><\/td>\n1649<\/td>\n1663<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Average<\/b><\/td>\n.309<\/td>\n.307<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Slugging %<\/b><\/td>\n.504<\/td>\n.581<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Cano\u2019s numbers are good, really good, but they\u2019re not A-Rod numbers, and Cano\u2019s looking to crush A-Rod\u2019s 10 year, $275 million contract.\u00a0 Despite all the hype from Hova, there\u2019s no way he should even come close to getting A-Rod money, and, unless something crazy happens, he won\u2019t.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

\"Cano<\/a>

Cano as MJ? Not. Even. Close.<\/p><\/div>\n

Star Power<\/b><\/p>\n

This is what\u2019s most infuriating with the MJ comparison.\u00a0 Quick:\u00a0 when you think of current Yankees, who comes to mind?\u00a0 How long did it take you to get to Cano?\u00a0 Be honest.\u00a0 Jeter, A-Rod, Mo, then maybe Cano\u00a0(arguably CC, Tex, and Grandy\u00a0could go before Cano).\u00a0 It\u2019s not even close when you consider past Yankees.\u00a0 Ok, now when you think of the Chicago Bulls, past, present or future, how long does it take you to get to Jordan?\u00a0 Shit, when you think of the word Chicago or basketball, how long does it take you to get to Jordan?\u00a0 Exactly.<\/p>\n

Cano is not an iconic, face of the franchise\/league player like MJ.\u00a0 As the Daily News<\/a>\u00a0points out, Cano has the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0highest selling jersey for NY players (Christ he\u2019s behind two Mets) and doesn\u2019t even have the highest selling jersey for second basemen, trailing Dustin Pedroia.\u00a0 Jordan trails nobody, and since the NBA started tracking jersey sales in 1998, Jordan still reigns supreme<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Age<\/b><\/p>\n

Numbers don\u2019t lie, and Cano\u2019s on the wrong side of 30.\u00a0 He\u2019s 31, and seeking a 10 year contract.\u00a0 Do you think the recent horrible<\/span>\u00a0long-term\u00a0contracts given to star players in their 30\u2019s\u2026like A-Rod and Pujols, are fresh in the minds of baseball execs?\u00a0 Indeed.\u00a0 Cano\u2019s got about 5 more consistently productive years left, and then it drops off.\u00a0 The Machine thinks the best he\u2019ll do is a 7 year deal with a player option for 8, and club option for 9.<\/p>\n

No other suitors<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite being the biggest talent, there\u2019s no market for Cano, because everyone knows his demands are ridiculous.\u00a0 It\u2019s just the Yankees.\u00a0 Perhaps the Mets\u00a0step up as a bidder\u2026they certainly have a strong track record of making horrible baseball decisions.\u00a0 Quick trivia question:\u00a0 who\u2019s the highest paid outfielder on the Mets?\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0 Bobby Bonilla.\u00a0 Yes, even though Bobby hasn\u2019t played a game in over 12 years, the Mets pay him over $1 million a year<\/a>\u00a0until 2035.\u00a0 Holy shit.\u00a0 So, I guess you can\u2019t count the Mets out, but so far it\u2019s only the Yankees, who are wise to sit back and not move from their 7 year $160 million offer.<\/p>\n

Jay Z as agent<\/b><\/p>\n

Jay Z has stepped into the sports agency business, forming Roc Nation Sports.\u00a0 He\u2019s been acquiring a decent amount of talent, including Victor Cruz, Geno\u00a0Smith, Kevin Durant, and now Robinson Cano.\u00a0 Roc Nation Sports seems to not only want to maximize their clients\u2019 sports earning potential, but also their marketing potential as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a novel concept\u2014to maximize the total earning potential of a player\u2014but it\u2019s novel in the sense that marketing and sponsorship opportunities are at the forefront on contract negotiations.\u00a0 The bad part of that is it narrows your market to only major market cities (it\u2019s no surprise that 3 out of the 4 clients are in NYC).\u00a0 Side note:\u00a0 If Jay Z brings Durant to the Knicks, all will be forgiven.\u00a0 Do you think Jay Z\u2019s going to listen to offer from the Brewers or the Astros?\u00a0 H to the Hell no.\u00a0 Being a Jay Z client means you\u2019re limited to NYC, LA, and maybe Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also, Jay Z is currently being investigated by MLB<\/a>\u00a0for giving an improper gift to Cano.\u00a0 You got to think that the NFL, NBA, and MLB\u00a0are weary about this new cross-over venture, which has the potential to take an athlete\u2019s focus (gasp!) off of playing sports.\u00a0 If the MLB comes down hard on Jay Z, that could<\/p>\n

So, we get that there\u2019s an element of puffery that always occurs with contract negotiations.\u00a0 But come on, there still has to be an element of good faith and reasonableness, and comparing Cano\u00a0to MJ defies logic.\u00a0 It\u2019s completely transparent, and a piss poor attempt to elevate a person to a level where they have no business being.\u00a0 But Hova\u2019s backed himself into a corner where he has to get close to what they\u2019re asking.\u00a0 If reality sets in and Cano ultimately accepts a reasonable deal (somewhere around 7-8 years, $160-200 million) Jay Z and Roc Nation Sports are going to look like fools, and this will set the tone with all clubs for future negotiations.\u00a0 But that\u2019s what you get when you pull the MJ card.\u00a0 That, and a teabag.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We interrupt this NFL season to bring you some news from the diamond.\u00a0 We\u2019re just two weeks away from Baseball\u2019s Winter Meetings, and things are starting to heat up.\u00a0 Not familiar with the phenomenon that is the Winter Meetings?\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tuesday-teabag"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-kp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1269,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}