Robinson Cano Sweepstakes Begin Now

My thought is there will be three teams in the running for one of the most talented baseball players on the planet, Robinson Cano.New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs.  The cost?  $200-$300 million over who knows how many years, which is nothing for LA or the Cubs, but for the Yanks, it might be a different situation.

Wait, what?  The mighty Yankees?  Well sure.  The Hank and Hal sons of The Boss want to get down to $189 million so the team stops paying out the you know what on luxury taxes.  The Yanks can lose a ton of payroll next year.  Andy Pettitte, Curtis Granderson, Kevin Youkilis, Phil Hughes and Hiroki Kuroda can all be off the books although Kuroda may be back at a decent amount considering what he is doing right now.  That is a lot of money.  Then it is just a matter of who the Yanks sign for payroll total.  The upcoming free agent class is weaker than a college junior on a Friday night at 2am after a case of Keystone.

Cano will likely command a lot of years, and that is the issue more than the money.  If you know baseball, you know eight years or 10 years on a contract is stupid, even if your name is Albert Pujols.  Alex Rodriguez's contract, especially with all of the injuries and age and PED use, is the worst in baseball.  Pujols' isn't far behind.

So what will happen with Cano?  Where will he end up?  We know all three mentioned teams need him.  The Yanks would love to have Cano there for baseball life and the offense is a disaster with him, let alone without him.  LA will do anything to spend money and bring in stars.  The Cubs need a face of the team.

Cano is talented as hell.  Over the shoulder catch in the outfield at Fenway?  No problem.  Hitting line shots into the stands or turning a pretty double play?  Count on it.  But Cano hasn't shown he can lead and hasn't carried a team in the postseason.  So, the Yankees will have to think about what they want to do, how much they want to spend and for how many years.

The Dodgers and the Cubs are watching Cano as well.  Because the Cano sweepstakes are underway and it should be between the Bronx, LA and The Windy City for one of baseball's most talented yet enigmatic players.

By:  Mike Lindsley, "Mid-Day with Mike," M-F 1-4, Yankees pre/post game on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.  Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/MikeLSports.