Every negotiation is a game of chicken, right? The only differential is the stakes.
So we have the Yankees acting like a made-over divorcée, bragging they’ll be just fine without Robinson Cano and flirting with outfielders, infielders, starting pitchers and closers. Yet, still communicating extensively with the guy they want most of all.
And we have Cano and his rookie agent, Jay Z, professing that all is well, that they have plenty of options. Flirting with the Mets, of all potential suitors, which is not altogether different from trying to discuss Keynesian economics with a basset hound. And still communicating extensively with the guys they want most of all.
At this early point of the dance — the two sides spoke again Wednesday and appear to remain far apart on terms for a new contract — Yankees fans should urge their club to exhibit patience and flexibility thanks to two realities, one general and the other specific:
1. The elite free agents always get paid. Always.
2. There’s no imaginable, alternate usage of the Yankees’ resources that will give them a roster superior to one featuring Cano.
Tell The Post the last free agent of Cano’s caliber (he’s one of the top 10 players in the game) who didn’t score huge — either matching or succeeding early-November expectation — on the free-agent market. Zack Greinke and Josh Hamilton got paid last year, and Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder two years ago. Carl Crawford, Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth hit the jackpot three years ago. And so on.
No, Cano won’t get his $310 million over 10 years, from which he already has come down a little, according to a source. Yet, if Cano doesn’t join his pal Alex Rodriguez (twice), Pujols and Fielder as the free agents who passed the $200 million mark, then both Jay Z and common sense will have failed. It might require some time for some pieces to move, for one or both of Scott Boras’ clients, Jacoby Ellsbury and Shin-Soo Choo, to pick their destinations, but Cano should get to that promised land.
In the Nov. 5 edition of The Post, I predicted Cano would stay with the Yankees for eight years and $200 million, a figure I swiped from my teammate Joel Sherman (please don’t tell him I did this). It’s believed the Yankees are currently at seven years and $168 million, so they would need to go up just one more year and $1 million more per season to make that work. As Chevy Chase used to say, that’s egg money for the Goliath that is the Yankees. If another team goes significantly over that figure, then the Yankees would have an intellectual right to go forward without the franchise player.
The Yankees can talk tough about constructing a winner without Cano, fantasize about a roster featuring Carlos Beltran, Hiroki Kuroda, Masahiro Tanaka and maybe even Stephen Drew and Joe Nathan as well as the signed Brian McCann and not featuring A-Rod. Why not? You get in trouble when you view a player as a must-sign (see: A-Rod, November 2007), and the Cardinals taught a course in this subject two years ago when they let Pujols sign with the Angels and responded by advancing to the 2012 National League Championship Series and 2013 World Series.
One critical difference, however: Pujols, while spectacular, is a first baseman. Upon Pujols’ departure, St. Louis shrugged and shifted right fielder Lance Berkman to first base (and put young Allen Craig there, after Berkman went on the disabled list) and signed Beltran to a two-year contract to play right field.
Cano, as a second baseman, plays a more premium position. The Yankees have engaged free agent Omar Infante and discussed a trade for Brandon Phillips with Cincinnati, and neither is a terrible option. Neither, however, can approach Cano’s value, and both are older than him.
It’s in the Yankees’ DNA to think first and foremost about the next season, but they shouldn’t let their $189 million ceiling for 2014 dictate such a long-term decision as retaining Cano, as they intend to blow right past the luxury-tax threshold again in 2015 and beyond. The quick addition of McCann should alleviate their concerns they will be shut out of this market if they wait too long on their homegrown second baseman. They already have themselves a significant piece.
Cano is so good he’s worth waiting a little longer, engaging in more dialogue. The Yankees shouldn’t outsmart themselves here. No need to prevail in a game of chicken, only to regret their victory down the road.