Robinson Cano Apologizes To Mets For Steroid Suspension


PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — In the first half of the Mets’ first simulation game on Wednesday, Robinson Cano took a shot over David Peterson’s shoulder. “We’re on the same team!” JD Davis shouted from the deck circle and everyone laughed. Cano stayed in the penalty area and fouled a broken ball holding on to it but swung confidently.

“These are the little things you’re looking for,” said manager Buck Showalter. “He’s racing. He has that look in his eyes. I’ve learned over the years, don’t sell guys like him cheap. He has a pretty good pedigree.”

Cano’s pedigree is brilliant: He is a career hitter with a .303 and no second baseman in history can match his totals in both home runs (334) and shooting (2,624). He’s also a two-time steroid offender. suspended for 80 games in 2018 and last year all 162. At 39, he is here as a remnant of a previous regime that believed in him.

A lot has changed for the Mets since Cano last played for them, a brief renaissance in 2020 – a .316 average and 10 home runs in 49 games, a return to Yankees prime that now seems totally dreamy. The Mets have since acquired a new owner (Steven A. Cohen), a new general manager (Billy Eppler), a new manager (Showalter), and a group of players that bring Cano to mind.

With Showalter’s grace, Cano called out to the team at the start of spring practice and apologized for his absence last season. Public regret came Wednesday in a small conference room outside the media room, with only the usual group of reporters. After all, we’ve all experienced this before – including Cano.

In 2009, Fla. At spring training in Tampa, he was there with his Yankees teammates, under a tent befitting the circus atmosphere, when Alex Rodriguez made his own painful apology. Rodriguez had emerged as a former steroid user in the period prior to the test and asked people to judge him from that point forward. Then he cheated again.

How did Cano, then only 26, learn nothing from Rodriguez’s ordeal? Or he may have learned that drugs can help turn a top actor into a highly paid superstar. Whatever he understood from A-Rod’s example, Cano wasn’t saying. He hugged his letter tightly.

“I think the best lesson you can take from yourself is when you make mistakes,” said Cano, who gave no idea what prompted his use of Stanozolol, a simple and easily detectable anabolic steroid developed in the 1960s.

“There is no why and how,” he said. “There’s no excuse for that. All I know is that I can’t live in the past. From now on, move on and get there and continue to be the Robbie Cano I’ve always been.”

That’s the problem with baseball’s steroid guys: Could they be what they always were without artificial support? Few say when they started cheating or what difference it made. Teams and fans should assume that when a player is penalized, they have learned to stop the behavior that caused it. However – do not you know? – you can never be sure.

When a former Mets general manager (Brodie Van Wagenen, Cano’s former manager) contemplated the trade with Seattle for Cano, Eppler made a four-year $78 million bet that Starling Marte was clean. Marte, 33, received an 80-game drug suspension with Pittsburgh in 2017 and remains an elite player. He had a career-high 0.383 base percentage with Miami and Oakland last season and led the majors in stolen bases with 47.

Marte has recently slowed down due to a slash injury and swinging is not allowed in the batting cage. However, Cano looks ready after scoring .344 points in 17 games in the Dominican Winter League.

“I’m preparing myself,” he said. “I stayed home all year, training every day from Monday to Friday, and doing different things that I had never done in the past to prepare myself and be healthy and keep coming here and performing. high level.”

Showalter said Cano could play second, batsman and first base, but didn’t say how often he plans to use him. The Mets are deep in casual players, with five infielders who can fill daily roles for most teams: Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Eduardo Escobar, and Davis. There are also four such outfielders: Marte, Mark Canha, Brandon Nimmo and Dom Smith, who defeated Max Scherzer twice in Wednesday’s simulation game.

Cano is useless, wondering why he’s here besides having a contract to run until 2023. – A timely violator of baseball’s drug policy.

“It might seem a little selfish in terms of it, so what should we do, not play it?” said Showalter. “Do you beat him every day? What’s the turn over there? He’s wearing our colors.”

He continued: “When speaking to Robbie, the worst thing he felt was not being there for the club and the team, and I choose to believe him. I sit down and say, ‘Why did you do it? What drove you and all that stuff?’ I have some curiosity, but now is not the time.”

Davis was right: They’re on the same team. There is no reason to overthink. If Cano has anything to offer – then, welcome back.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *