SAN PEDRO DE MACORIS, Dominican Republic — As ex-Yankee Robinson Cano was introduced in Seattle as the Mariners’ $ 240 million man, his big smile couldn’t hide a child-support fight hounding him half the world away.
A judge in Santo Domingo on Thursday ordered Cano to pay an additional $ 600 monthly in a “provisional pension” to his 3-year-old son — on top of the $ 600 a month he already pays in child support.
At his meet-and-greet press conference, the 31-year-old slugger was asked about paying his son peanuts after inking the fourth-largest contract in major league history.
Cano brushed off the question like his agent, Jay Z, rapping his hit tune, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.”
“My family is more happy that I got what I want here, not just about any money,” Cano said.
New York Daily News
Robinson Miguel Cano Castro (r.), age 3, here with his mother Jackelin Castro, is the son of now Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano.
But more than 3,000 miles away, Jackelin Castro, the mother of the star’s son, Robinson Miguel Cano, has been fighting tooth-and-nail to get the ballplayer fork over some of his fortune.
“All we can do is try to provide a sufficient amount to the child for his future,” Castro’s lawyer, Wendy Diaz, told the Daily News.
“Sadly, we cannot force a judge to tell Robinson to love his son more. We want to secure the boy’s future and have something saved for him. This is a step toward providing that,” she said of Thursday’s court ruling.
The war between Cano and Castro, 38, has gotten ugly, with the two no longer on speaking terms and the mom claiming the ex-Yank is an absentee dad who is often late with his child-support payments.
“It’s never consistent,” Castro told The News, adding that little Robinson should have better living conditions than the small home in San Pedro de Macoris.
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Cano, who said the Yankees didn’t show him much respect in the free agent process, is ordered to pay more child support.
She said she’s been struggling to raise the child on the seemingly paltry amount Cano is supposed to pay. She says the only other income she received is $ 100 a month from the Dominican Ministry of Sports for training and coaching young female volleyball players, a sport she used to play.
Diaz said that the next court date is scheduled for Jan. 23, and that Cano is expected to attend that hearing.
She said she’s not certain if Cano will fight the court’s decision, but doubts “very much that a judge would rule he doesn’t have to pay” the extra $ 600.
“We will have to show in court the money that Jackelin is getting, and the money that Robinson is making, including the new contract that he just signed,” Diaz said.
“We’re talking about someone who made $ 15 million last season,” she said. “Robinson, the son, he doesn’t have a secure income as of now. That’s a shame.”
New York Daily News
Jackelin Castro is mother to Cano’s son.
At Thursday’s hearing, Cano was ordered to start paying the pension amount immediately, including a December installment. Diaz said an attorney for Cano was present at the hearing.
In addition to the pension issue, Diaz said she is demanding that Castro get much more per month than the $ 600 she now receives in sporadic child support payments.
“We are fighting for $ 25,000 a month,” Diaz said. “We believe that is fair.”
Cano has a mansion on a plush golf course in Juan Dolio, further west from San Pedro de Macoris, where Castro and his son live. A Ferrari is covered in the garage next to an Escalade, and there is a blue Porsche Cayenne SUV in the street out front, with a bodyguard standing at the edge of the driveway.
Yankee outfielder Alfonso Soriano lives in the same gated community. Castro, meanwhile, lives in a single-level yellow home with an orange roof.
New York Daily News
Robinson Cano’s house in the Dominican Republic.
Castro may have a stylish BMW that she says Cano bought her, but Diaz says her client’s auto insurance is unpaid, and that the maintenance on the foreign car is astronomical.
As for the home that Cano bought for Castro, Diaz asked, “Have you seen it? It’s very, very small. How Robinson lives and how Jackelin lives are very different.”
Earlier this year, Cano issued a statement calling the issue “a private matter.”
“I will not fight it in the media, nor will I say anything disparaging about the mother of my child or comment any further,” Cano said in the statement. “I look forward to an amicable resolution that will allow me time with my son.”
A Cano representative did not return a call or email Thursday from The News.
New York Daily News
Jacqueline Castro’s house in the Dominican Republic.
Castro confirmed an ESPN report earlier this year which said that a Cano representative approached her in February with a 10-year contract to sign. The contract dealt with visitation rights and indicated she would be paid about 150,000 Dominican pesos, or between $ 500 and $ 600 a month.
But there was also a confidentiality provision. If found in violation of the clause, she would be liable for almost almost 2 million pesos, about $ 50,000.
“I didn’t sign it,” Castro said.
When asked about the new $ 240 million deal Cano signed with Seattle, Castro simply said, “Good for him. That’s what players look for in their career.”
Diaz, however, explained that one of the big reasons they’re fighting for the guaranteed pension for the younger Robinson Cano, is because there is often uncertainty in a baseball player’s financial future, even when they sign mega deals.
“Dominican players are often millionaires,” Diaz said. “But in 10 years, we don’t know. We don’t want this child to be poor.”
Diaz said Cano, a U.S. citizen, hasn’t shown a desire to provide his son with a passport to come to the U.S.
“His son doesn’t even go to see his dad at games,” Diaz said. “That’s not fair to the kid.”
Little Robinson, meanwhile, attends a school near his home. On a recent afternoon, a van pulled up to Castro’s house, and the boy was handed to her, still dressed in his school uniform. He quickly scurried indoors.
“All I wish is that his dad was more involved in his son’s life,” Castro said in Spanish. “My son deserves better.”
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