Robinson Cano is back at Mets camp after sitting out 2021 due to a PED suspension, his second under the league's joint drug agreement.
The Mets have high expectations entering 2022, and apparently, Cano felt he owed all of his teammates, new and old, an explanation before the team got going with its truncated Spring Training.
"He did talk to me about his idea he'd like to address the club earlier on. It'll probably happen sooner than later, something he wanted to do," manager Buck Showalter revealed in his spring-opening press conference Sunday. "Billy (Eppler) and I fully support him. Just want to create the avenue he thought would best present himself."
Cano didn't play in 2021, but he did play 17 games in Winter Ball this past offseason – 10 for the Estrellas de Oriente in the Dominican Winter League, and seven more for the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Series.
Robby hit .344 with 15 RBI in those games and looked a lot like the Cano of old according to Showalter, who said he saw "almost every at-bat" the slugger took in the D.R.
"He looks great," Showalter said. "He had a really short but solid campaign there, and it was encouraging to see."
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But what now, as Cano reports to a Mets camp that seemingly has him as an outsider looking in? The Mets have Jeff McNeil as the incumbent at second base, and while Cano got some action at both corners in Seattle in 2018, he's little more than a fill-in at either for the Mets, with Mark Vientos and Brett Baty knocking on the door at third if J.D. Davis is moved (and Eduardo Escobar able to bounce around).
"We're excited about having him back on the club and contributing. How it maps out, we'll see what we can handle physically," the skipper said. "It's good to see how happy he was to be back in the clubhouse, and very important to him that he touches a lot of bases before we get going."
That also leaves DH, but the Mets also have four starting-caliber outfielders for three spots, so it could get a little crowded everywhere. To Showalter, though, confidence is high but expectations are tempered.
"I talked to Robbie a couple times on the phone, one of the guys I reached out earlier on to and talking to him today in detail and everything else was great," he said. "You can tell how comfortable he is in the locker room and how happy he is to be back."
GM Billy Eppler, who has known Cano for a long time since both were with the Yankees, feels the same, simply saying: "I talked to Robbie and we go way back, so we're all good."
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