S. Samuel
Roc Nation Sports head Jay Z is proving he really does look out for his partners by reportedly meeting with star client Robinson Cano's potential new team this week about his free agency status.
According to reports, Young Hov pitched the New York Yankees free agent second baseman to local hometown rival the New York Mets.
Robinson Cano a Met? It sounds outlandish on the surface, but Cano put his best man on the job Monday night. Yes, it turns out Jay Z is as hands-on as promised. So hands-on he’s willing to shop his client across the RFK Bridge into Flushing. The hip-hop impresario joined Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, general manager Sandy Alderson and assistant general manager John Ricco for dinner at a posh Manhattan hotel to discuss Cano’s free agency, two sources familiar with the situation told The Post. Cano’s group, which also featured agents Brodie Van Wagenen and Juan Perez, initiated the meeting; Cano himself didn’t attend. (New York Post)
Despite the meeting sparking widespread sports headlines, reports claim the team’s general manager is not interested in spending ample bucks on free agents.
Alderson went on record last week to say he couldn’t envision the Mets taking on another player with a nine-figure contract to join David Wright, and Cano sure as heck wants nine figures. He asked the Yankees for a 10-year, $310 million contract, and the Yankees countered with a seven-year offer for between $161 and $168 million. The Yankees have not held extensive talks with Cano’s representatives since free agency began, and they’re unlikely to be unnerved by this meeting, given the Mets’ stated salary-commitment intentions and their payroll-slashing of the last three years. The Mets have a capable second baseman in Daniel Murphy, but it isn’t the presence of Murphy that would block Cano; Murphy could be traded. Rather, it’s Cano’s demands and desires, not to mention his love of the Yankees, that make this a shaky bet. (New York Post)
Coincidentally, this all comes in light of Jigga Man being placed in the hot seat over a present he gave Cano in October.
Baseball’s union is investigating whether Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, violated its rules by giving a watch worth nearly $34,000 to Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano. Cano received a Shawn Carter Classic Fusion watch by Hublot during an Oct. 22 party in Belgium celebrating his 31st birthday, according to media reports and postings on Cano’s Instagram account. Jay Z, who reportedly helped design the watch, had performed in Antwerp the previous night. (New York Daily News)
Over the summer, Cano’s former sports agent Scott Boras took a jab at Jigga over his role as a real agent.
Whether the tandem of Jay Z and Creative Artists proves as effective at landing Robinson Cano a megadeal in free agency this winter remains to be seen. Boras shrugged off the lyrics about him, but in discussing the prospect of Jay Z negotiating with teams, he made indirect reference to the rapper’s famous line about making a Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can. “When your agent wears a Yankee hat,” he said, “how seriously are they going to take you?” (Wall Street Journal)
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