New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano is looking to become one of the highest-paid players in professional sports history this winter. Cano is widely considered to be one of the best all-around hitters in the game, and he is going to be compensated accordingly. According to the mother of his child, Cano needs to start sending more of that money to her and his son.
In an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Jackelin Castro painted a picture of Cano as an absentee father who pays her an average of $600 per month in child support for their 3-year-old son. Castro filed a child support case in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic last month. She said she has been trying to reach a deal with Cano and his representatives since February, when they brought her what she felt was an insulting proposal.
According to Castro, Cano’s lawyers brought her documents dealing with Cano’s visitation rights and child support payments that proposed he give her 150,000 Dominican pesos every sixth months, which works out to between $500 and $600 a month. It also suggested she should keep the agreement confidential or face a $47,000 penalty for damages if she spoke about it.
“The intention of him and his advisers was somewhat to intimidate me,” Castro told Outside the Lines through an interpreter. “It’s like a crumb because I [have] to chase after that money. It’s not something where you get it every month on a specified date.”
Cano issued a statement on Wednesday insisting he has provided adequate care for his son, Robinson Miguel Cano Castro.
“I have gone above and beyond to care for my child, including an agreed upon monthly stipend, a house, a car, insurance, school and other essentials for the baby and his mother as well as many other things including toys and clothing,” the statement said. “This is a private matter and I will not fight it in the media, nor will I say anything disparaging about the mother of my child or comment any further. I look forward to an amicable resolution that will allow me time with my son.”
Castro said she and Cano had a relationship for roughly three years beginning in 2008. When she became pregnant with their son, Castro claims Cano distanced himself from her and encouraged her to go home to the Dominican Republic for the birth. She described her living conditions as a 3-foot-by-6-foot crib jammed between a wall and a bed under a leaky roof. Cano’s home, she said, is 30 minutes away in a gated community.
“The money he gives to the son, when he does, is not enough to feed the dogs of Robinson Cano’s house.” Castro’s attorney Wendy Diaz said. “Maybe he is expending more money on the dogs and cars than he has on his own child.”
Castro declined to put a number on what she thought what be an appropriate monthly payment from Cano, but she said their son deserves to be living more like an MLB star’s child.
“His living circumstances, financially, socially and culturally, are very, very far from what the child’s experiencing and gets,” Castro said. “It’s a very large gap. What hurts me most [is] he shows the world that he helps children, that he’s a good person, he’s very humane.
“So with something of his own, he may trick the world and everybody who sees him because he’s the big star that he is, but there’s a reality, which is a son who doesn’t [receive] the quality of life he’s supposed to.”
We have no way of knowing who is telling the truth, but we do know that $600 a month in child support payment would not be appropriate for the biological son of someone like Robinson Cano. Did you see the amount of money he is reportedly seeking in free agency? Some athletes are forced to pay far too much in child support because of their financial resources. It doesn’t sound like Cano is one of those athletes.
