Reports: Padres Close to Signing Former Mets Second Baseman Robinson Cano

Robinson Cano's baseball career may not be over just yet.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post and others, the San Diego Padres are close to finalizing a deal with the 39-year-old who was designated for assignment last week by the New York Mets and was released on Sunday. He's still owed nearly $40 million by the Mets, and any new team can sign him for the veteran's minimum.

The Padres and Cano could have a deal done by Friday, according to tweets from Dennis Lin of the Athletic. San Diego already has a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so they’d only need to make a corresponding 26-man transaction.

Cano missed all of the 2021 season because of a PED suspension from Major League Baseball. This year, Cano started just under half the Mets’ games in April, splitting time between second base and designated hitter. He hit just .195 through his first 43 plate appearances. He had just one home run and three RBIs.

Cano has been in the majors for 17 years. He reached the big leagues in 2005 with the New York Yankees. He spent nine years before moving on to Seattle in 2014. He spent five years there, and has been with the Mets since 2019. He has a career .302 batting average with 335 home runs.

Cano has five-time Silver Slugger Award winner and has finished in the top 10 of MVP balloting six times in his career. The Padres don't really have a spot for him in their starting lineup for him, but they could use a bat — if it heats up — especially if it comes on the cheap.

It wasn't easy for the Mets to move on, but it had to be done considering Cano's struggles. The Mets are playing very well even without much contribution from him the first month or the season. They are 21-11 through Wednesday, and have the best record in the National League. The Padres are 20-12.

Despite Cano’s early season struggles, it still seems a difficult decision to cut a veteran presence from your roster. It was no easier for general manager Billy Eppler to make that decision.

“It was pretty difficult,” said Eppler. “Trying to process every player conversation I’ve ever had of that kind of magnitude. But with my history with Robbie, sharing a lot of experiences with him professionally, today was one of the more difficult ones.

“I walked through the transaction with Sandy (Alderson, the Mets' team president) and then ultimately with Steve (Cohen, the Mets' owner), and as we were kind of talking through the weekend and then yesterday a little bit before the game I wanted to make sure everyone was understanding of what the impact was. I passed along to him (Cohen) the recommendations of the baseball group and front office staff. I walked through some details with him (Cohen) and he said ‘make the baseball decision,’" Eppler said.