Robinson Cano, Dead Money, and a Rebuttal

Earlier this week, Dave Cameron wrapped up his annual trade value series over on FanGraphs with a look at the least valuable trade assets in baseball. The five players who appeared on this list all have a significant amount of dead money owed to them over the next few years. It's basically a who’s who of aging veterans who were signed to long, expensive contracts. At the top (or bottom) of this list of toxic assets is none other than Robinson Cano.

Like with any long term contract, the bulk of the surplus value comes up front with the amount of dead money increasing as the life of the contract runs out. The same was true for Cano and the Mariners when he signed a ten-year contract last year.…