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Former Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano will return to Yankee Stadium for the first time this week, with the Mariners.

(Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – During Robinson Cano’s nine seasons with the Yankees, you could often find him dining at restaurants alongside Derek Jeter, who routinely picked up the tab.

Cano can afford to return the favor now, since he signed a 10-year, $240 million contract in the offseason. But Cano is a continent away, playing for the Seattle Mariners, who visit Yankee Stadium this week. This will be Cano’s first trip back to Yankee Stadium since signing with the Mariners.

“Considering I paid for him to eat for however many years he was here, he owes me a lot,” Jeter joked Sunday evening before the Yankees’ home series finale against the Angels. “So I’m upset that I don’t get to collect.”

Perhaps Jeter can cash in after one of Seattle’s three games against the Yankees, on Tuesday through Thursday. Or maybe a reunion dinner will happen Monday, when both teams are off.

“I’ll get him one day,” Jeter said. “I’ll get him.”

For Cano’s first nine seasons in Major League Baseball, 2005-13, he and Jeter formed the Yankees’ second base-shortstop tandem. Cano batted .309 during his Yankees career, won a World Series in 2009 and finished in the top six of the American League Most Valuable Player voting in each of his final four seasons.

Cano has endured a rocky start with the Mariners. He was hitting .292 entering Sunday’s game against Texas, but Seattle was just 9-14. Jeter, a career-long Yankee, certainly does not begrudge Cano for taking a hefty contract from what now appears to be a worse team. (The Yankees offered Cano $170 million over seven years.)

“Baseball is a business like any other business,” Jeter said. “Sometimes people lose sight of that. It’s not too often that guys get an opportunity in any sport to play with one team for their entire career. As much as people would like to see guys stay with one particular team, it doesn’t always happen.”

Despite uniform changes being a common part of baseball, Jeter admitted it is “always a little awkward when you see guys that have spent a lot of time here come back with other teams,” particularly for the first time. As for the reception he thinks Cano will get from the Yankees’ fans, Jeter said he is “sure there will be more cheers and boos.”

Jeter, long known for his steadiness, still admires how the Yankees could rely on Cano to contribute every day. During the final seven years of his Yankees career, Cano missed a combined 14 games. CC Sabathia, who will start Tuesday, remembers watching Cano hit from the Yankees’ dugout and “being in awe of him.”

Sabathia remains close friends with Cano. Sabathia said they have kept in touch since Cano went to Seattle. But Sabathia (3-2, 4.78 ERA) does not expect his familiarity with Cano to give him any advantage on the mound Tuesday.

“Nah, man,” Sabathia said. “That guy’s such a good hitter. I’ve seen him wear people out – good pitches, bad pitches, whatever.”

Plus, when Sabathia played with Cano, “you’re not really thinking about how you’re going to get him out,” Sabathia said. Video analysis of Cano before the upcoming series will lend Sabathia more insight into how he should approach Cano, said Sabathia.

This still will be a strange feeling, facing Cano, just as Sabathia expects it “to be tough” pitching to his buddy Curtis Granderson when the Yankees play the Mets next month. Granderson, a Yankee the past four seasons, signed with the Mets before this season.

Cano’s return to Yankee Stadium is also underscored by the struggles of the Yankees’ new second baseman, Brian Roberts, who is hitting .212. Not that the Yankees could have easily replaced Cano with another player like him.

“I think he’s the best second baseman in the game,” Sabathia said of Cano. “So losing him is tough.”