With Bronx return nearing, Cano relishing role as leader of young Mariners

SEATTLE — Robinson Cano's smile warms the cool night air in the Great Pacific Northwest.

"You almost saw my first home run in Seattle,'' he told The Post of a seventh-inning drive Tuesday night that just missed the right-field foul pole at spacious Safeco Field, a drive that would have been a home run at the wind tunnel known as Yankee Stadium.

So far, that is the story of Cano's new baseball life with the Mariners.

Cano knew this was going to be a challenge. After sweeping the Angels in Anaheim the first series of the season and scoring 26 runs in three games, the Mariners went through a tailspin, including an eight-game losing streak that ended this past week.

Tuesday is Robbie's Return, the night Cano comes back to Yankee Stadium.

The free agent signed a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Mariners and finds himself in a much different role on a much different team.

And you know what? He's loving it, despite the mountain range of issues in the Mariners' way.

"The people who understand the game are going to know what happened,'' Cano said in a quiet corner of the Mariners clubhouse about leaving the Yankees. "They know what the situation was. If things were different, if the situation were different, I would still be a Yankee. They never really tried to keep me.

"It's like a relationship. If you have a girlfriend, you try to work it out. They never tried to work it out. There was never a conversation where they said, 'Let's sit down and get this done.'
"You ask my agent how bad I wanted to stay. After I visited here, we called them and let them know that we had a better offer. We called the Yankees, and the Yankees said they didn't have the money.''

Cano said the Yankees' offer was $170 million over seven years. The Yankees said they would speak to owner Hal Steinbrenner to try to up the ante.

Cano said the Yankees raised their bid to $175 million.

"They didn't really change their offer, so we said, 'They really don't want you. They want you, but only at their price.' "

The Mariners had their over-the-top offer, 10 years, $240 million. Cano, represented by Jay Z's Roc Nation and Creative Artists Agency Sports, had the band move on.

The Yankees' final offer was three years less than the Mariners and $65 million less. Players don't walk away from that kind of money.

"This was all about respect,'' Cano said.

Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano, right, follows through on a throw to first base after forcing out Texas Rangers' Alex Rios, left.Photo: AP

Cano, 31, understands the challenge ahead of him. He relishes his new role as he tries to lead a young team.

In New York, Cano supplied a big bat and a Gold Glove but the leadership was left to others such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Out here, Cano is the leader of the Mariners and has embraced the role. He is never going to be a rah-rah guy, but his door is always open.

"And we are all taking advantage of that,'' said catcher Mike Zunino, 23. "I'm always asking him questions.''

Noted left-handed-hitting third baseman Kyle Seager, 26, whose two home runs Wednesday, the second a walk-off, ended the Mariners' eight-game losing streak, a rally started by a Cano single:

"Obviously he's a phenomenal player, but Robbie is a phenomenal person as well. He works extremely hard but in the game, he goes out there and relaxes and plays. That's a big thing all of us can learn.''

Remember that home run drill Cano used so effectively with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long? Cano carted that drill to Safeco Field, and four hours before Tuesday's game was working the drill with hitting coach Howard Johnson and four young teammates.

This is his new life.

The first-place Yankees, meanwhile, rebuilt their team, spending a cool $458 million adding big-time free agents Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Masahiro Tanaka and Brian McCann.

It has been 12 lost seasons for the Mariners, who have not made the playoffs since 2001.

Cano said he knows what he has to do. He must hit the way he has hit his entire career and be out front to point the way.

"I just want to look forward,'' Cano said.

"It's not about what happened with management,'' he said of his return to New York. "I want to go back and see the fans, my former teammates. It's like going back home, you want to see everybody.''

Cano said he is hoping for a good reception from Yankees fans. After all, he was a star in pinstripes for nine seasons, and Yankees fans should show their appreciation for what Cano accomplished.

"If I get booed, you know what, I just have to keep playing the game,'' Cano said. "I love the fans. I loved my time in New York.''

"Robbie is going to be fine, he was a New York Yankee, part of a tremendous winning tradition, a tremendous organization,'' Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "They should be proud of what he helped accomplish for the Yankees, but moving forward, he is a Seattle Mariner, and he is focused on that. He wants to do everything he can to bring a championship to this club.''

Batting third in this young lineup, Cano cannot be tempted into expanding the zone.

"Robbie has to understand that he is the target now,'' one AL scout said. "He is the player opposing teams are not going to let beat them.''

Cano entered Saturday night hitting .291 with one home run, four doubles and 10 RBIs.

"We've talked about being patient,'' said McClendon, who stood up for Cano in the spring training spat with Long over Cano's "hustle'' issues with the Yankees. McClendon was the Tigers hitting coach from 2007-13.

"I've been extremely impressed with Robinson Cano as a person,'' McClendon said. "I knew I was getting a real good player, but what he brings to the table, the intangibles, they're off the charts.

Robinson Cano follows the flight of a ball hit against the Texas Rangers.Photo: Getty Images

"He had good teachers in Jeter, Mariano, [Jorge] Posada, guys like that and the whole Yankee winning atmosphere, all that has played a part in his character.''

As for the unfinished Mariners, they are getting the finished product.

"I'm not knocking the Yankees, but I think this lineup he has here is better than the lineup he had last year with the Yankees,'' McClendon said.

That's certainly not the case this season. The Yankees are third in hits, the Mariners are 29th.

Key pitching injuries have also set the Mariners back.

Cano will have to make this all go in the right direction. This is only the start.

"I would use the term ecstatic,'' Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik of his reaction to having signed Cano. "We've needed a guy like Robbie. He's been wonderful. You can't talk to a player in that locker room that doesn't have a tremendous admiration for him, for his talent and for how he has handled things.

"And it has not been easy. Although this is not New York, the fact is he did sign a big contract and made a long-term commitment, and sometimes you put yourself in a position where you've got to do more than what you can but he's handled this so well, like a real pro, and that's what he is. He's been a tremendous example of how to play the game.''

Added McClendon: "He reminds me a lot of Miguel Cabrera, the concentration level, the way he goes about his business in BP. In the last five years in extra-base hits, in all of baseball, he's second to Cabrera. That's pretty phenomenal.''

"He's been very, very sharing and communicative with the guys,'' Johnson, the ex-Met, said of Cano. "We have plenty of guys where he can really pay dividends with. When you have young players you have to be patient and he's been real good about it. It's not easy when you're expected to put up all these big numbers and stuff. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can't do it. It doesn't present itself.''

Cano doesn't have protection in this lineup.

"I've sensed a little bit of frustration because of how they are pitching him,'' Johnson said. "He was taking his walks for a while, and then he got a little frustrated. He gets a little quick. Once we start playing our kind of baseball it will be fine. He knows he has to take his walks.

"We have two young players at the top of our lineup and they have to get on base more than what they are doing. That's been our whole focus right now. I think Robbie has only hit with two guys on base and nobody out two or three times.''

Cano only can dream about having Ellsbury on base or Beltran protecting him.

In the end, Cano chose to move to the Mariners and this new baseball life, and he is in chamber of commerce mode.

"You can't get down because of the losing streak,'' Cano said. "You know what, the next thing is we may win 10 in a row, maybe 15 out of 20. A lot of things can happen in this game.''

Come Tuesday, Cano is back in the belly of the beast at Yankee Stadium.

"There's challenges everywhere,'' Cano said. "Even when I was in New York, look at the challenges we faced last year. We had the team but we didn't make it to the playoffs.

"I'm looking forward to this series,'' he said. "The fans were always supportive of me and that was one of my biggest motivations, playing for the Yankees. I still talk to Jeter and CC [Sabathia] and other guys. I feel so bad for [Ivan] Nova. This is like going back home to your backyard where you grew up as a kid.''

Cano is wearing No. 22 with the Mariners. Ken Griffey Jr.'s number was 24. The Yankees gave Cano's 24 to Scott Sizemore.

"That doesn't bother me,'' Cano said with a smile, "I'm not there.''

No, he's not. He's in his new baseball life with his new role, $240 million in the bank over the next 10 years and a mountain range of new challenges.

Goodbye, Yankees. Hello, Cano Seattle Show.

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