From: New York Daily News
As trades are offered, Cashman will listen
BY ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Alex Rodriguez might not like being dropped to eighth in order but he's No. 1
subject on minds of teams talking trade with Yankees.
Joe Torre is back, but George Steinbrenner has made it clear that in the
fallout of the Yankees' "sad failure," everyone is on notice. That,
apparently, includes Alex Rodriguez, who suffered through a tumultuous season
in which he was booed regularly by Yankee fans and was awful in the playoffs
for a second straight October.
Asked yesterday if A-Rod could "be the player you imagine" next season, GM
Brian Cashman replied, "He better be.
"Like anything else, he has to find a way."
Rodriguez might not get the chance, at least not in pinstripes. While Cashman
said he is not soliciting offers and believes A-Rod still will be a Yankee
next season, he also did not rule out the idea of entertaining trade
proposals for him. "I'll listen," he said. "That's what goes on in my job."
But Cashman also said, "We are guilty in the past of changing the sheets too
quickly," a reference to the Yanks' culture of swiftly dumping players who
don't soar. That's part of the Yankee business model Cashman wants to change.
"I fully expect to have him at third base next year," Cashman added. "We're
going to figure this thing out together."
After Saturday's elimination loss to the Tigers, Cashman got an E-mail from a
fellow executive that offered brief condolences for the end of the Yankee
season and then added a trade offer that included Rodriguez, who has a
no-trade clause and would have to waive it to leave.
Cashman joked that he wanted to E-mail back a single word: "Buzzard." But the
Yankee GM hasn't responded yet. Cashman got other offers during the season,
especially as Rodriguez struggled.
"I know there'd be interest in him," Cashman said. "He's a very talented
player. Despite the difficult time, he's had results. He's fighting not only
the pitcher on the mound, but something else, and still had results."
Not the results Rodriguez, the 2005 AL MVP, wanted. He batted .290 with 35
home runs and 121 RBI, but his major numbers were all lower than last year -
except errors. A-Rod made 24 errors at third, twice the number he made in
2005.
Rodriguez was only 1-for-14 (.071) in the division series and is just
4-for-41 (.098) with no RBI in his last 12 playoff games.
Assuming Rodriguez returns, it's unclear whether he and Torre have to repair
their relationship. Torre considers A-Rod "one of the important pieces to the
puzzle here," but the manager dropped Rodriguez to sixth in the lineup at the
start of the playoffs.
In Game 4, Torre batted Rodriguez eighth, a slap in the face. And a Sports
Illustrated article that dubbed Rodriguez "The Lonely Yankee," recounted how
Torre confronted Rodriguez about his spotty play this season - and it's
uncertain if the frank look into the Yankee clubhouse will have further
reverberations.
Torre said the lineup move merely was "trying to win a game" and added that
he had told Rodriguez that sixth was a possibility once Gary Sheffield
returned. "I hate to think if I batted Alex fourth we would've won," Torre
said.
But, as Cashman put it, "He's clearly not an eighth hitter. We know that, Joe
knows that. I don't think you see him bat eighth on Opening Day."
That's if Rodriguez still is in New York. But there seem to be plenty of
people who will try to make A-Rod in the Bronx work.
"Part of it is Joe's responsibility, part of it is my responsibility and part
of it is Alex's responsibility," Cashman said.
Originally published on October 11, 2006
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