A meeting between Brett Gardner and the Yankees has not been ruled out because the parties have remained in contact, according to sources, but general manager Brian Cashman seems ready to play 2021 without the team’s longest player – and with a bigger role for Crazy Clint.
Asked about Gardner during a Zoom call on Friday, Cashman said “he was a great Yankee. We’ll see how things go in the coming weeks. ”
Later, speaking to WFAN, Cashman was effusive in his praise of Frazier, who could be the team’s left player, with Aaron Hicks in the center and Aaron Judge on the right.
“Clint Frazier has continued to strengthen his strength and has improved and improved,” Cashman said. “Last year was another proof of that. Going into this, no doubt, he solidified as a guy and was a guy who saved us a few times when they hit the wounds. ”
Crazy in the range would make the right-wing Yankees even more right-handed, with only the Hicks hitting the left button, next to Mike Tauchman and potentially Tyler Wade on the bench.
But Cashman said Friday it was unwilling to add balance to the range just for her sake.
“It simply came to our notice then [balance] as we have done in previous years, but we have not found a match that makes enough sense to withdraw from the level of talent that happens to be right-handed just to force into that balance, “Cashman said. interpreted whether or not it is a smart strategy from us. “
Gardner played well in the latter part of 2020. After a bad start, with just one .592 OPS and seven extra-based hits in the first 116 appearances on set, Gardner finished strong, reaching 13-for-33 with a 1,190 OPS and four extra-based hits in his last 42 appearances in the regular season. And in the playoffs, Gardner finished 7-for-19 with 1,079 OPS.
Frazier, 26, also had a strong 2020 after years of teasing the Yankees with his talent. He was one of their best offensive threats, but finished the regular season in a 1-20 drop.
In the past, he has struggled with consistency and staying healthy, and Cashman believes the subsequent effects of the contusion suffered in 2018 are behind him.
“When I bought it, it had a high ceiling, but it wasn’t a finished product,” Cashman said. “It reduces the distance between all of these.”
When the Yankees traded with Frazier in 2016, in the deal that sent Andrew Miller to the Indians, Cashman became famous for Frazier’s “legendary bat speed.”
His Yankee career was up and down and he spent most of the first season of last year at the alternate training ground, until Giancarlo Stanton reached the injured list with a hamstring stalk, which Frazier was mentioned.
“He had a hell of a year,” Cashman said of Frazier. “It simply came to our notice then. He’s hungry. He wants to continue to improve. “