Robinson Cano — All These Years Later
- Paul Semendinger
- Mar 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 1
By Paul Semendinger
March 2026
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Note - This article was written for the IBWAA newsletter, Here's The Pitch and was originally published there on March 14, 2026
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A quick note: when I write some of these articles, I do not draw the conclusion before I write them. I sometimes use writing as a way to explore various theories and ideas.
I saw a comment the other day that referred to the Yankees dodging a bullet when they did not sign Robinson Cano after the 2013 season. As I read that comment, I thought of the poor way that Cano’s career ended, mired in controversy from PEDs and, at the very end, poor production. I began to wonder if the Yankees ended up being correct in not offering a big contract to Cano or if their decision was a poor one.
A further note as I dig into my examination... I am basing this analysis entirely on Cano’s on-field numbers. I am not getting into the debates about PEDs, cheating, and the like and if those numbers enhanced Cano’s production. I don’t know when Cano began using PEDs. I don’t know if anyone knows that. We also do not know if that use would have started (or continued) had he stayed in New York. This analysis will be based entirely on the numbers, although once he started missing time for PED suspensions, Cano’s impact was obviously lessened.
One last note: after the Yankees failed to sign Cano, they almost immediately made the poor decision to sign Jacoby Ellsbury. I am not going to speculate on whether or not Ellsbury would have been a Yankee had Cano stayed in the Bronx.
In Cano’s absence the Yankees used the following players as their starting second basemen: Brian Roberts (2014), Stephen Drew (2015), Starlin Castro (2016-17), Gleyber Torres (2018), DJ LeMahieu (2019-21), and Gleyber Torres again (2022-23).
This analysis will be strictly based on Robbie Cano against his replacements on the Yankees during the period of his ten-year contract. Time allows us now to look back on that entire period critically.
2014:
Robinson Cano batted .314/14/82 with a 142 OPS+. Cano earned 6.3 WAR that season
Brian Roberts batted .237/5/21 with an 87 OPS+ and earned 0.7 WAR
2015:
Cano: .287/21/79, 117 OPS+, 3.8 WAR
Stephen Drew: .201/17/44, 77 OPS+, 0.1 WAR
2016:
Cano: .298/39/103, 138 OPS+, 7.3 WAR
Starlin Castro: .270/21/70, 92 OPS+, 1.2 WAR
2017:
Cano: .280/23/97, 114 OPS+, 3.1 WAR
Castro: .300/16/63, 106 OPS+, 2.1 WAR
2018:
Cano: .303/10/50, 136 OPS+, 3.3 WAR
Gleyber Torres: .271/24/77, 122 OPS+, 3.4 WAR
First Five Years Summation:
After the first five years of Robinson Cano’s ten-year deal, the statistics demonstrate that Cano well outperformed the players they Yankees tried to replace him with. In that period, Cano totaled 23.8 WAR compared to only 7.5 WAR put up by the Yankees’ second basemen.
That fifth year, though, seemed a portent of bad things to come for Robinson Cano. That year he played in only 80 games due to a PED suspension. After that season, he was traded to the New York Mets. In 2018, the Yankees also finally had second baseman who was performing as Cano’s equal or better.
One final note, after two seasons in New York, Starlin Castro was a big part of the trade that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees beginning in 2018.
2019:
Cano: .256/13/39, 95 OPS+, 07 WAR
DJ LeMahieu: .327/26/102, 136 OPS+, 5.6 WAR
2020:
Cano: .316/10/30, 143 OPS+, 1.3 WAR
LeMahieu: .364/10/27, 178 OPS+, 3.0 WAR (Of note, LeMahieu led the A.L. in batting average, OPS+, and WAR)
2021:
Cano - Suspended
LeMahieu: .268/10/57, 97 OPS+, 1.6 WAR
2022:
Cano: .150/1/4, OPS+ 7, -1.5 WAR (only 33 games played)
Torres: .257/24/76, 113 OPS+, 4.1 WAR
2023:
Cano - Did not play
Torres: .273/25/68, 118 OPS+, 2.9 WAR
Final Notes:
Over Robinson Cano’s ten-year contract, he earned 24.4 WAR. The Yankees’ second basemen in that period earned 27.7 WAR. Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu outperformed Cano significantly over the final five years of the contract. Also of note, being present is an essential aspect of playing baseball. Over the final three years of Cano’s contract, LeMahieu and Torres played in 448 games compared to Cano’s 33.
Conclusion:
While it did not seem like the Yankees would get the better of the deal in the first years on Cano’s big contract, in the end, the Yankees fared better by not signing Robinson Cano to a ten-year deal after the 2013 season.
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Paul Semendinger’s newest book, THE GREATEST NEW YORK YANKEES BY UNIFORM NUMBER is received great early praise and will be released to the public on March 17, 2026. Reach out to Paul to schedule a book talk via Zoom or, possibly even in person. Paul also loves promoting other authors on his podcasts and on Start Spreading The News.
Just a short note to say I agree with Paul (since frequently I'm lambasting his views!).
IMHO if they had signed Cano, they don't sign Ellsbury and Gardner becomes the centerfielder. They also don't trade for Gleyber or Castro, which potentially means no Stanton, which means (maybe) they'd be serious about pursuing Harper. Things could very well have been different in that scenario, up to and including a title.
There was so much going on at the time of his free agency, from going to the brand-new ROC Nation, to going back to his old agent, having ROC Nation in the meeting with the Yankees reportedly making all sorts of demands, most of them not even doable, to Cano fighting his ex-gf over both spousal & child support in the DR, where his 2013 salary was $15M, but he petitioned the Court there to reduce his obligation from $1500/month to $500. I just never knew what to make of the whole thing at the time. The only thing I knew, if that George was still alive and he saw Cano wasn't at that meeting, George would've ended the meetin…
Just another reason why most 10 year deals are one sided.
It seldom works out on these extremely long contracts.... Cano is a perfect example. There are exceptions but very few.