Is there a market for Cano?
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson has publicly talked about not wanting to give out a $100 million contract, let alone a deal twice or thrice that value, and it wasn’t like the Mets called the meeting with Cano’s agents it was the other way around, a rather clear attempt to show the Yankees that they mean business.
While players like Cano are in short supply, demand for a player asking to be paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars could hardly be lower, because there is such a limited group of teams that can even entertain the notion, and an even more limited subgroup of teams for whom such an expenditure would make sense.
The teams who would make sense as Cano suitors are the Yankees, the Tigers, and because they’re seemingly the only team left spending without a limit, the Dodgers except that there have been very public declarations from Los Angeles about not signing Cano, and Guerrero is talking like someone who expects to play second base at Dodger Stadium this season.
Cano can keep asking for amounts of money he knows he won’t get because he remains the big-ticket free agent most likely to sign in the Bronx.
COREY HART: In a horse’s-mouth moment for rumors, Hart told MLB Network Radio on Tuesday that his agent has been contacted by the Brewers, Rays, Red Sox, and Rockies.
As far as the other teams who have expressed interest in Hart, the Red Sox and Rockies both have been linked to Mike Napoli, and Hart would make sense as a fallback option a right-handed hitter with power for whom first base is not his natural position.
He’ll still cost plenty more than Loney did last year, coming in on a one-year, $2 million contract after a dismal season split between the Dodgers and Red Sox.
WHITE SOX: Technically a free agent, Paul Konerko is deciding between another season with the Chicago White Sox and retirement, and according to general manager Rick Hahn, that decision should be made before the winter meetings.
The follow-up question is, if Konerko does fill that role, does it mean the White Sox would look to trade Dunn, who has one year and $15 million left on his contract? In a world where the Tigers are willing to listen to trade offers for Fielder, one year of Dunn at $15 million might be a more palatable option to some teams than seven years of the Detroit slugger at $24 million per.