Cano is arguably the Yankees’ best player. He has a career .308 batting average and last year had 33 home runs and 48 doubles among his 196 hits. He is also considered a remarkably deft second baseman in the field. As top Yankee players grow older, and older, it is Cano who seems the most logical player for the team to build around in the years ahead.

For the moment, the Yankees will wait to see how Cano’s switch in agents plays out. In creating a sports agency called Roc Nation Sports, and partnering it with the established Creative Artists Agency, Jay-Z is venturing into new territory and using Cano, his first sports client, as a centerpiece. But the Yankees do know that long before he formed his new sports agency, Jay-Z, who often wears a Yankee cap, played a significant role in persuading Alex Rodriguez, whom he considers a friend, to remain with the Yankees after Rodriguez opted out of his contract in 2007.

Rodriguez, who was represented by Boras at the time, listened closely to Jay-Z and signed a 10-year, $275 million deal with the Yankees two weeks later. Rodriguez later fired Boras, but he remains close to both Jay-Z and Cano, and it is possible he helped persuade his teammate to switch agents.

The Yankees also know that Cano, as part of Jay-Z’s partnership with C.A.A., will now be represented by Brodie Van Wagenen, one of C.A.A. Sports’ top agents. Unlike Boras, Van Wagenen has a history of negotiating large extensions between his star clients and their teams before those players reach free agency. That list includes Ryan Braun and the Milwaukee Brewers, Ryan Zimmerman and the Washington Nationals, Matt Cain and the San Francisco Giants, and Ryan Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees did not play on Tuesday, but Cano may address his decision before Wednesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium against Boston. On Tuesday, he issued a statement that said he had reached a point in his career in which he was ready to take a more active role in his affairs.