Reports: Mariners land Robinson Cano on 10-year deal

By Shannon Drayer

The team has yet to confirm, but after a morning of reports of the Mariners’ talks with Robinson Cano breaking down overnight, there are now multiple reports of a done deal. Bob Nightengale of USA Today is reporting that the Yankees have confirmed that they have been told Cano is signing with the Mariners.

Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes was the first to report (in Spanish) that the Mariners and Cano had agreed to a 10-year, $240 million deal pending a physical that is scheduled to take place Monday.

What happened in the meetings between the two sides Thursday night is up for debate although a source with knowledge of the negotiations tells me the “explosive breakdown” characterized by several media outlets that took place is not accurate. The resulting agreement would seem to back that up.

The negotiations had been going on for some time. Cano’s representation had a deal in hand well before Cano and agent Jay Z traveled to Seattle on Thursday. That deal is reported to have been for nine years and $225 million. It would appear that there was further negotiating if $240 million is indeed the final total.

It is a staggering amount of dollars for any team, but the Mariners have placed themselves in position to make such a move with general manager Jack Zduriencik rebuilding the farm system and going with a large number of cost-controllable players the last two years as well as the new TV deal. The Mariners had money to spend.

And they are not done. Sources tell me that they are still active on a number of free-agent fronts and are determined to land another middle-of-the-order bat. That bat could be Mike Napoli, who they showed great interest in last year. Nelson Cruz has been on their radar as well. Moves still must be made with the outfield and they will attempt to add pitching as well.

Cano is the first domino.