Many would assume Robinson Cano left the New York Yankees for financial reasons. And they’d likely be right. But there may have been another deciding factor in why Cano bolted from the Bronx Bombers.
According to the New York Post, the former Yankees second baseman didn’t enjoy playing for manager Joe Girardi:
"According to three people who know Cano, he didn’t enjoy playing for manager Joe Girardi and that may have factored into the decision, though the Mariners giving him $60 million more than the Yankees offered ($175 million) likely had more to do with him leaving.“Robbie didn’t like batting second, he wanted to bat in the middle of the order,’’ one person said. “The Yankees wanted him second because that was best for the team. He wanted to hit in the middle of the order to drive in runs [to increase his value].’’"
A friend of Cano’s chimed in on the talks as well:
"“He told me he didn’t want to play for [Girardi],’’ a friend of Cano’s said."
It obviously needs to be taken with a hefty grain of salt, though, it likely caught many off guard that Cano would actually leave the Yankees for the Mariners and this could be another factor as to why it went down.
There was obviously quite a drastic difference in money in comparison to what the Yankees rumored offer was, but leaving a perennial contender and the bright lights of New York City for a team who has a history of struggling and isn’t exactly a free agent hot spot seemed somewhat shocking.
No doubt, money was the main reason but an apparent dislike of playing for Girardi could have also made the move easier, assuming such is true.