MLB rumors: Did Robinson Cano meet with Detroit Tigers?

When the Detroit Tigers traded away Prince Fielder earlier this week, they did it with one glaring intention in mind – clear up salary.

Prince, who signed a $214 million dollar deal just a few short years ago was becoming an albatross on the Tigers books and was doing so at one of the most easily replaceable offensive positions. There were better ways for Detroit to spend their money.

I’m not sure that blowing the newly available cash on free agent Robinson Cano would qualify as such, but it’s possible the team and Cano had a meeting in recent days according to the Detroit News.

Granted, there is no hard evidence linking Cano’s potential meeting with the Tigers outside of a unique flight stemming from New York to an off-the-radar Michigan airport, where Cano was allegedly spotted:

"There was, indeed, a charter plane that took off from Teterboro, N.J., about a half-hour outside New York City, at 6:59 a.m. Friday and landed at Willow Run 90 minutes later. The plane then sat at Willow Run until 2:04 p.m., when it headed back to Teterboro. The plane in question is a Kelso Air-owned business jet, a Bombardier Challenger 600, which seats between 14 and 18 passengers. This plane could cost as much as $4,100 per hour to charter, or more than $32,000 for this particular trip — impressive, to be sure, but not much of a dent for someone who made, say, $15 million in salary in 2013."

For what it’s worth, the Tigers didn’t deny such a rumor when pressed – simply suggesting they had no comment on a potential meeting.