Yankees manager Joe Girardi got defensive Wednesday in explaining to reporters why he chose not to start soon-to-be released designated hitter Alex Rodriguez in either of the first two games of the team’s series in Boston, writes Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “I’m putting out what I feel is the best lineup as we sit around and talk about it as coaches. That’s my job. That’s in my job description. My job description does not entail a farewell tour,” said Girardi, who was the Yankees’ manager during shortstop Derek Jeter’s season-long farewell tour in 2014. Despite hitting a paltry .256/.304/.313 with four home runs in 634 plate appearances that year, Jeter was a mainstay atop the Yankees’ lineup, which reporters pointed out Wednesday. In response, Girardi stated, “I didn’t really have a replacement, in a sense. This year, we have people that we want to try. We have replacements, and that’s the biggest difference.” The Yankees, who are amid a youth movement, started highly touted catcher prospect Gary Sanchez at DH on Wednesday. Rodriguez entered the game with a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh inning and flied out to right field, dropping his season batting line to .203/.251/.355. The 41-year-old will conclude his polarizing and productive Yankees career with starts on Thursday and Friday.
More on the Bombers:
- Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi exited his Wednesday start with inflammation in his pitching elbow after just one inning, Kuty was among those to report. Eovaldi will undergo tests in New York to determine the severity of the injury, and he and the Yankees are obviously hoping it won’t require Tommy John surgery. Eovaldi underwent the procedure as a high schooler, per Kuty, who also notes that right elbow inflammation kept the hard-throwing 26-year-old out for the final month of the 2015 season. Despite trailing only Mets ace Noah Syndergaard in average four-seam fastball velocity, Eovaldi has recorded a 5.12 ERA to pair with an underwhelming K/9 (7.11) in 116 innings as a starter this season.
- After an ineffective Tuesday start, one in which he surrendered five earned runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings in a 5-3 loss to Boston, the Yankees sent right-hander Luis Severino back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Severino, 22, has been among the Yankees’ biggest letdowns last year, having compiled a 7.78 ERA, 6.93 K/9 and 2.34 BB/9 in 39 1/3 innings as a starter. While Severino has limited walks and thrown heat, his ERA as a starter is nearly five runs worse than it was last year (2.89) across his 62 1/3-inning debut, and his strikeout rate has experienced a notable drop from the 8.09 he recorded in 2015. To his credit, Severino has fared well in 63 2/3 Triple-A innings (3.25 ERA, 8.06 K/9, 2.12 BB/9).
Not good…
Gerardi is a narcissistic egomaniac. It’s time the Yankees get rid of him. He is mistreating Rodriguez the same way he mistreated posada.
Giradri is a winner! We would be way worse off if not for him.
There A good manager for the don’t tell me crap Mets Girado is the perfect man for the job after Yanks fire him and Rentalia is the Yanks man
Gerardi picks who he likes and dislikes . Look what he did to posada in his last year . He is narcissistic and an egomaniac, get rid of him .
I’m not a fan of Alex Rodriguez. However the Yankees and Joe Girardi are classless. They go on national TV and say if Alex wants to play every day next week we will get him in the line up. Now it’s about the best lineup we can produce. Two faced. If I was the Red Sox I’d purposely give him meatballs to hit 4 hrs in one game. Because that’s all they are trying to stop is Alex reaching 700.
The way Rodriquez is swinging if he played two more weeks, he would not hit 700.
Bull what did he do today his last day
Thanks for you input Arod.
Sox fans don;t want AROD hitting 700 either. Arod is getting what he deserves. If he had been honest about his steroid use instead of lying and getting a massive suspension, they might have been more willing. No one wants AROD tying or surpassing Babe.
He’s not going to pass Babe. Babe has 714 HRs. I don’t think A Rod is going to get 19 homers between now and Friday. Although if he did, someone would probably sign him the next day.
Cast the first stone mr good bar
Yeah…that would go over well if the Red Sox missed the playoffs by a single game.
If I was a Red Sox pitcher, I would hit him in the ribs with 95 mph as a farewell. Every seems to forget that this piece of trash sued the MLB plus the MLBPA. Good riddance!
The way he’s been swinging lately he’ll be better off eating those meatballs
Girardi not playing Arod is coming straight from upper management. They made their decision that they want to cut ties with him but are doing it in a way that softens the harshness of releasing him straight up. It would have put the Yankees in a terrible and awkward situation if they played Arod all week and he ended up hitting the cover off the ball. What would happen if he happened to play all week and hit 4 or 5 homeruns over the course of that span and looked like the Arod of old? Would they still release him? Too awkward of a situation to be messing around with.
You cross that bridge when you get there. You can always right your course.
One of the better points out there.
I seldom agree with Red Sox fans but I think that you are 100 percent correct!
cry yankee fans cry, arod cheated and doesnt deserve special treatment, boo hoo
In my travels through life, I have learned a few lessons. Now I have picked up a new one. Never take anything seriously by someone with the name nutlikka. Thank you for helping me in my journey through life.
Lol.
Nice
I never saw a better player than Alex and yes, I saw Mays, Mantle and Aaron. But there came a time for Hank, Willie and the Mick to call it quits because they just couldn’t produce any more. It was pretty painful to watch Mays and Mantle at the end.. ARod has reached that point. What goes on in the locker room of course, I don’t know. But Alex has never been a loveable person.
If you think Arod is a better player than Aaron and Mays you don’t know baseball.
Girardi not playing Arod this past week came straight from upper management. They decided they want to cut ties with him in a way that softens the harshness of releasing him straight up. Obviously, if the Yankees chose to play Arod this whole week and he hit the cover off the ball then that puts the Yankees in an awkward situation. Do they still release him if he plays the full week and hits 4 or 5 homeruns and shows signs of the 2015 Arod? Its an awkward and unprecedented scenario but the Yankees are choosing to save face by letting him go on a low note and hardly play him rather than giving him his finish line and regretting the decision to release him if he hits the cover off the ball in his final week. Just an awkward scenario altogether
Arod should be happy the Yankees aren’t playing him. Because if he hit 700 home runs it would give less teams a reason to sign him. But if he’s still acouple away from 700. A team might take the chance on him just for the milestone.
I think Yankees management told Joe to only play him these last 2 days. They see no future for AROD and didn’t want to take the chance he gets hot. Then what would they do still release him? AROD is a an Albatross around the Yankees neck. The sooner he’s gone the faster the team can move on. Hal’s brother whom we rarely ever see or hear from was the foolish one who gave AROD this ridiculous contract. If you recall it was Cashman who wanted to let him walk. Of course it came back to bite the Yankees big time.
That’s why you don’t see Hank anymore, after they realized that he made a BIG mistake they decided that Hal was going to run things
This whole situation is a joke. Why didn’t they just wait until Thursday to tell everyone Friday would be Alex’s last game. This would have cut down on all the drama.
Who would of played over Jeter? Brendan Ryan? Stephen Drew? No thank u. When they have Sanchez, McCann (who’s not having a great year), and Beltran before the trade hitting over 40 points better then ARod. And if Bird was was healthy Tex might not be in the lineup everyday either. I’m a huge Yankee fan but I’m a realist. ARod doesn’t deserve to b in the lineup everyday. He’s not producing and to compare this year to Jeters final season is ridiculous. They had zero youth ready to contribute that season. Now there’s a lot.
Plus Jeter did not sue the Yankees
First off all of this bringing up arod peds use is insane. He maned up at admitted it show me one positive test guess what there is none. Peds doesn’t make you hit the ball harder or make you have talent. Either you have it or you don’t. Look at how many players have taken them have done nothing in their career. I have been a Yankees fan for my 42 years on the planet and he deserves to go out the way he wants peds or no peds. The year long suspension was just who he was and his name. How can Ryan Braun can get caught lying and only get 60 games. Want me to tell you why because it’s obvious that mlb baseball and the commissioner office never wanted him to 700 home runs
And look at how many players HAVE done something with their career after taking them. And how did he man up and admit it? He threw a hissy fit by suing MLB and the MLBPA
Are you seriously stating that “bringing up arod peds use is insane”? It’s the first thing most fans think of now whenever they hear his name?
PEDs don’t enhance performance? You know what the letters stand for, right?
Plus 1
Tough to lose 2 Aces in 1 week. The losses of Eovaldi and Severino could impact the playoff push.
Gary Sanchez had four hits and dropped his first career bomb on Fenway. No matter what was said about Arod’s playing time, giving away his ABs has been justified; the Yankees don’t owe him anything… EXCEPT 26MILLION!
I better hear a lot of boos at Yankee stadium during Ortiz’s last stand at the stadium.