The New York Yankees will make a run at retaining second baseman Robinson Cano when he hits the open market this winter, but, according to team president Randy Levine, the club will call off the pursuit if the price gets too high, reports ESPN.com.
In a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg Television, Levine said that's he's hopeful Cano will be a Yankee in 2014, but that the club will have its limits in negotiations:
"Robinson Cano is a great player. We will sit down and talk to him...
"Nobody is a re-sign at all costs, but we want him back and we feel good about negotiating something with him. But nobody is a re-sign at any cost."
Levine did not drop any hints about what the club's limit might be, but he made sure to iterate that, as always, the Yankees are planning to "put a championship-caliber team on the field" next season. He also added that "great players come and go... but the commitment to getting great players continues," which almost sounds like something that belongs on a motivational poster.
If the Yankees do decide to keep Cano around for the foreseeable future, it certainly won't be cheap. The 30-year-old leads the Bombers in just about every offensive category this season, not to mention just about every other second baseman in baseball. He's batting .308/.382/.510 with 26 home runs in 144 games, and was named to his fourth consecutive All-Star Game in July.
Cano and the Yankees have been in and out of contract discussions since last winter. The second baseman's surprise move to fire Scott Boras and bring on Jay-Z's Roc Nation to represent him was thought to be a move towards staying in New York, but last we heard the two sides were still "far apart" in negotiations.
When asked for a response to Levine's comments, Cano stated that he doesn't want to discuss contract matters, adding:
"Right now, I'm not paying attention to any of that.
"We have 18 games left, so that's my focus right now. We'll see what happens when that day comes."
Entering Wednesday, the Yankees sit just two games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second AL wild card spot.
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