Asked at the end of a press conference Monday at George M. Steinbrenner Field if he ever used performance-enhancing drugs or was anyway linked to Biogenesis, Cano didn't answer the first question and only answered the second.
"I don't know where that place is at," said Cano. "The first time I heard about that was when the things came out."
The "things" he speaks of are reports that Rodriguez and Cabrera were linked to PEDs through the Miami clinic's records and is now being investigated by MLB.
Three reporters followed Cano out of the presser into the parking lot and — after he didn't answer the question regarding ever using PEDs — the Yankees slugger finally answered "No" to ever using the banned substances.
Since Cano is so close to Rodriguez and Cabrera, many consider him guilty just by association.
"It doesn't matter who you are hanging out [with], Cano said. "Everyone has their personal lives and they do what they want. Like I say, through the good and the bad times they are always going to be my friends. I'll let them handle it."
The perennial All-Star has never tested positive for PEDs, despite false reports tweeted by a North Carolina TV station last summer, but the implication of guilty by association comes at a bad time for Cano as he plays out the season before becoming a highly desirable free agent.
Cano, who is represented by Scott Boras, may be seeking a 10-year, $275 million deal similar to A-Rod's — one that will pay Cano until he's 40-years-old.
The badgered ballplayer defended his deflection of the PED question.
"It's always going to bother you when somebody tries to say stuff like that," said a defiant Cano. "These kinds of things, sometimes as a player, you know what you do and what you're capable of doing you'll be fine. It's more your family. Those are the kinds of things that really bother me."
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