Robinson Cano was 31 years old when he left the New York Yankees for a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Seattle Mariners in December 2013. The landscape for veteran free agents has changed plenty since then.

Cano is the last free agent to get a 10-year contract. Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will reach free agency this winter at age 26, so they could be the next. But the notion of a player in his 30s signing for a decade has quickly grown antiquated.

Charlie Blackmon, the star center fielder for the Colorado Rockies, is 31 now, just as Cano was in 2013. But Blackmon passed up a chance at free agency Wednesday by signing an extension for three more years, plus two player options. Including this season, Blackmon is guaranteed $108 million through 2023 — a healthy sum, to be sure, but also a realistic appraisal of the changing value of older players.

Cano, at least, is motivated to prove that a 10-year deal can still make sense. The Mariners have not reached the playoffs with Cano, but he has remained an elite performer.

“I want to earn every penny that I get here,” Cano said in spring training, at the couch by his locker stalls in Peoria, Arizona. “I don’t want to be like those guys that, two or three years into their contract, they do really good and then they don’t care. I do care. I love this game so much, this is what I dreamed when I was a kid. When I retire, I don’t want to miss the game. I want to say I gave it everything I got, so now it’s time for me to hang up the shoes and go home.”

Cano entered this season with 301 career home runs, trailing only Jeff Kent (377) for homers by a player who primarily played second base. Now 35, Cano will have a strong Hall of Fame case if he finishes his career the way he plans.

“If you can have a good year at the age of 34, why not have it at 35?” said Cano, who hit .280 with 23 homers last season, and added another home run to win the All-Star Game. “If you keep working hard, you tell your body that you’re ready to go — not like guys that start sitting down, they’re gaining weight, they don’t care. I have fans out there, I have my son, I have to be a good example. I feel comfortable now because I got the money, but money’s not everything.”

Cano spoke about his reputation, citing Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar as a source of pride.

“He’s a Latino, he’s one of our guys,” said Cano, listing other superstars from Latin America, from Juan Marichal to David Ortiz. “That’s how I want to be remembered, as a guy that was productive in this game, not a guy that just feels comfortable because he gets the money.”

As great as Alomar was, he played his final game at 36, the same age Cano will be this fall. By then, his contract will be only half over.

“I know a lot of people were like, why are you going to Seattle?” Cano said. “But for me it was more the 10 years — and this year’s a good example.”

He cited examples of the most recent free agent market that frustrated many players, whose hopes for long-term deals never materialized. Cano is off the market, almost certainly for good. He timed his big deal just right.

“This way,” Cano said, “I’ll be able to have a contract and prepare myself and not worry about, at the age of 37, ‘Am I ever going to get a job again?’”