New York Mets‘ players knew that Monday was a crucial day in which one or two guys in the clubhouse would lose his spot on the major league roster.
MLB instructed teams to open the season with 28 players on the roster, but they had to revert to 26 on May 2.
The Mets sent reliever Yoan Lopez to Triple-A.
The other player who lost his roster spot was Robinson Cano.
The 39-year-old veteran was struggling to open the season, hitting .195/.233/.268 with one home run in 43 plate appearances.
He is owed roughly $37.5 million until the end of the 2023 season, whether he is a part of the roster or not.
Steve Cohen was presented with the chance of designating Cano for assignment, as it was the best “baseball decision”.
He bit the bullet and approved the decision to DFA the veteran, who lost the whole 2021 campaign while serving a suspension related to performance-enhancing drugs.
The Mets Kept More Deserving Players Over Cano
The Mets rightfully opted to keep more deserving players like J.D. Davis, Luis Guillorme, and Dominic Smith over Cano.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor, one of the leaders of the clubhouse, is certainly sad to see Cano go.
“Francisco Lindor said he was ‘sad’ to see Robinson Cano get DFA’ed but understood. ‘I don’t want to see him go, but I respect the team’s decision,’ he said. ‘He is a great guy, great teammate. I wish I spent more time with him, continued to learn about the game’,” Newsday’s Tim Healey tweeted.
Francisco Lindor said he was "sad" to see Robinson Cano get DFA'ed but understood.
"I don’t want to see him go, but I respect the team’s decision," he said. "He is a great guy, great teammate. I wish I spent more time with him, continued to learn about the game."
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) May 3, 2022
Several players took a similar tone: Cano may have messed things up in the past, but he is a respected veteran who left a good impression in the clubhouse.
Too bad he couldn’t produce on the field.
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