Robinson Cano is officially an MLB free agent. The New York Mets released him a few weeks ago, but he finally cleared waivers — leaving the franchise on the hook for the $40 million remaining in his contract. So what’s next for Cano? Welp, there’s a futures bet available at the top online sportsbooks on who Cano's next team will be and we have betting predictions on it right here!
Cano Has Free-Agent Options
The 39-year-old Cano probably isn’t starter material anymore, but he’s still capable of latching onto a roster and playing at designated hitter or in pinch-hit situations. There are a handful of teams across the majors that could use that type of player. If you take a gander at the best betting sites for baseball, these teams are favored to land Cano most:
The eight-time All-Star struggled mightily in 12 games and 41 at-bats with the Mets this season. Cano hit .195/.233/.268 with a career-worst 25.6 strikeout percentage. This is coming off a 2021 season in which he sat out due to a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs (the second of his career). Obviously, Cano wasn’t worth the enormous salary that New York was giving him, but for the league minimum of $700,000? We think so and the teams were covering next should call him soon.
Best Bets For MLB Team To Pick Up Cano
As seen above, the current betting odds for the MLB team to pick up Cano are long across the board. The betting favorites, Blue Jays, are as long as +300. Theoretically, that means if you bet on Toronto to get him, you could also throw money on two other teams and still end up profitable if Cano indeed signed with the Jays. It’s a healthy amount of betting cushion, which we’ll gladly take advantage of. Here are the three MLB teams we’re backing to take Cano:
Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto is the betting favorite to get Cano for a reason. On paper, signing Cano makes a whole lot of sense. The organization is in full-blown win-now mode. And playing in the loaded AL East, every at-bat matters to the Jays — including the occasional at-bat for Cano cause he’s likely not pushing for a regular starting position there.
Moreover, the team badly needs more left-handed hitters. By our count, there are only five — Zack Collins, Raimel Tapia, Bradley Zimmer, and Cavan Biggio. That’s it, which is awfully short especially if one of ‘em gets injured or catches COVID (which was the case for Biggio recently). So far into the season, Toronto hasn’t really settled on a DH either, rotating a slew of players. All this leads us to believe Cano might be worth taking a flyer on if you’re the Jays, which makes them a great bet!
Chicago White Sox
The Sox entered the season with World Series aspirations. It’s early, but so far, Chicago hasn’t even close to that. Chicago is exactly at .500 and has had clear struggles in the infield — where Cano could occupy if called upon. Sox second baseman Leury Garcia and Josh Harrison both have hitting averages underneath .200 and Danny Mendick was recently optioned cause things are getting so dire.
Worse, Chicago has found zero consistency at DH too. Get this, they’ve already had six different players start at the position after 26 regular-season games. Six! White Sox needs a spark of some kind. Maybe they get it from Cano or maybe they don’t, but the front office needs to at least try to live up to its lofty potential. That makes Cano worth the risk in our book.
San Diego Padres
Alright, this one is a bit of a longshot, hence the +1000 betting line but we think it’s worth looking into. The Padres currently find themselves right on the Dodgers' tail in the NL West. However, its DH spot — remember NL teams now have this — remains iffy. Usual starter Luke Voit is injured and even when he was healthy, struggled big-time. Voit had a .143 batting average for Pete’s sake!
If you’re San Diego, you can’t chance that production level from DH for a full season, not when you’re in the division with the best team in baseball. We all know GM AJ Preller is nothing if not aggressive so there’s reason to believe he could look Cano’s way. Cano was playing better than Voitt before being released anyway.
How To Bet On MLB In 2022?
This Cano special bet is not something you’ll want to wait out on because he could sign with a club any day now. If you need a trusty sports betting site to bet on MLB all of 2022, then take a gander at the underneath table. The listed sportsbooks have it all — MLB futures, moneylines, over/under, props, and everything in between.
And while you’re at these bookies, make sure not to overlook their lucrative sportsbook bonuses either. These deals can make you free money BEFORE you ever place a bet. The table lists the bonus offers currently on the table, which ranges from $500 to $2500 in free play rewards.
