Robinson Cano can wish to receive the biggest contract in Major League Baseball history all he wants, New York Yankees team president Randy Levine says. That doesn't mean the club from the Bronx is going to pay him what he asks.
Levine said as much to ESPN New York on Tuesday in the wake of reports that one of Cano's agents, rhyme-spitting icon Jay Z, was just wining and dining the New York Mets in order to get them to lure Cano to Citi Field.
What a party pooper Levine is:
"We want Robbie back; we think Robbie is terrific," Levine said Tuesday in a telephone conversation with ESPNNewYork.com. "But we have no interest in doing any 10-year deals and no interest in paying $300 million to any player. Until he gets a little more realistic, we have nothing to talk about.''
On Monday, ESPNNewYork.com reported that Cano's agents, Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA and hip-hip mogul Jay Z, were holding firm to their demand that Cano receive the richest contract in baseball history, surpassing the 10-year, $275 million deal -- with another potential $30 million in performance bonuses -- that the Yankees gave to Alex Rodriguez after he opted out of his existing contract following the 2007 season.
Ah, the old "We're not making the same mistake we did with A-Rod" tactic. Probably prudent. But Levine is not the guy making the final decision. Nor will general manager Brian Cashman make the call. Instead, it will be the Steinbrenner boys. It's their daddy's money.
The Yankees are closer to 1-168 million over seven years in terms of their preferred Cano terms. That's about million a season at the high end, compared with the million per annum that Cano is asking for.

If they settled on, say, eight years at $28 million per season, that's $224 million overall. Done! There, was that so hard? And they didn't even offer hip hop as a major at DePaul.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at[email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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