The word around baseball was that Robinson Cano seeked a 10-year, $300 million contract that would have made him the highest paid player in the game today. However, as Ken Rosenthal, senior writer for FOX Sports, explains, the New York Yankees will no longer have to pay that sum or have to come close to paying that sum  simply because of the time of the year. 

Remember closely, when the rumors of the $300 million deal came out, it was near the All-Star break. Cano's wishes were simpley; hope that the Yankees put up and shut up, simply handing over the money to their All-Star second baseman. 

It made sense. Why not go for it all?

The timing, however, was ill since the organization was dealing with the Alex Rodriguez drama. Also, why would the Yankees want to stack a 10-year deal on top of one that has not yielded the expected results and caused a great deal of embarrassment to the organization and the sport? Rodriguez is not going to be the home run king by the time he retires and heck, who knows if he still has chances of getting suspended? 

Obviously, the A-Rod case is a mystery and a pile of questions on top of questions. Which explains why the Yankees would even hesitate at such an offer. 

Rosenthal takes the time to explain contract negotiations in "Bidding Starts Clean on Cano." It is now free agent season where all the big business gets handled in baseball. In other words, "Hot Stove" season. There are players getting released left and right, some seeking retirement, others trying to avoid retirement and signing minimum contracts. The Yankees and Cano now start fresh. 

According to the New York Post, the Yankees offered Cano a seven-year, $165 million contract, which is far from the $30 million seeked annually by the best player in Yankee pinstripes right now and the best second baseman in the game. Seven years makes more sense, financially and logically, for the Yankees. There are plenty of free agent superstars in the making set to hit the market and the Yankees would not want to tie themselves up with a Cano drifting in his late 30's who will eventually decline.

That was the offer the Yankees made. Now, though the $300 million deal seems to have evaporated, who knows what the Yankees will do to keep their superstar second baseman? However, chances are that the window of opportunity slipped for Cano as he attempted to get a bang for his buck. Instead, he and the Yankees will now have to bargain. 

At least now we know that the sum will be somewhere between $165-300 million for seven to 10 years.