Mariners are a "major player" to land Robinson Cano

For years, the Seattle Mariners have been desperate to land a big bat during the offseason, and they have failed every time. Well, this time they're going to try their luck at the biggest free-agent on the market: Robinson Cano.

Yes, ESPNNewYork.com's Wallace Matthews has reported that the Mariners have now joined in the running to land the All-Star second baseman.

A source told Wallace that the Mariners might be willing to offer more than the Yankees, being something worth $200 million over eight-years.

"I wouldn't presume to say that there's no one out there that will meet [Cano's] demands,'' said another source, who named Seattle -- along with possibly the Texas Rangers -- as a team that might be willing to outbid the Yankees for Cano's services.

"Now it's a question of, does (Cano) want to be a Yankee, or is he just about the money?," a baseball insider told Wallace.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik denied to confirm whether he had a meeting with Cano.

"We've talked to everybody," Zduiencik told ESPNNewYork's Andrew Marchand on Tuesday. "There's not a free agent we haven't talked to. We've cast a wide net.''

The Yankees haven't had talks with Cano's representatives since last Tuesday, and Cano was said to have lowered his asking price to nine-years, $250 million. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports says that the Yankees don't plan on offer Cano over seven-years, or anything over $200 million anytime soon.

The Yankees, according to multiple reports, have upped their offer to Cano to seven-years, $175 million -- an average salary of $25 million per year. A source told Wallace that the Yankees are now "50-50" on whether they even want to retain him at this point.

"(The Yankees) think this offer is incredibly fair,'' the insider told Wallace. "It's the highest average annual salary they've paid anyone except for Alex Rodriguez. Not even (Derek) Jeter got that kind of money.''

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