MLB

Girardi anxious to learn A-Rod’s suspension fate

The Yankees have uncertainty up and down their roster, but manager Joe Girardi understands that whatever they do this offseason will be affected by what happens to Alex Rodriguez.

“I think whether you have him or not … it’s important that we know,” Girardi said. “Because if we’re not going to have him, we need to fill that void.”

Rodriguez and the organization almost certainly won’t know how much time he is going to miss due to an MLB suspension until the middle of next month, at the earliest.

The third baseman is appealing his 211-game Biogenesis ban. The hearing is on hold until Nov. 18, and arbitrator Fredric Horowitz has 25 days following its conclusion to rule on the case.

As of now, the Yankees have no idea if Rodriguez is going to be available to them or if they will have perhaps an extra $30 million to work with this offseason should Rodriguez’s suspension be upheld for the entire season.

“It does cause us to think a lot about, ‘Do we need a third baseman or do we not need a third baseman?’ ” Girardi said. “Hopefully we’ll know sooner rather than later.”

Girardi acknowledged if the Rodriguez saga extends too far into the offseason, the Yankees will have to look elsewhere.

“I think you do,” Girardi said. “I think it complicates [things]. Hopefully it doesn’t do that. Hopefully it gets taken care of before that, but whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”

They’ll have to deal with a lot, both over the next few months then once the season rolls around.

Girardi said Derek Jeter, who was limited to just 17 games in 2013 because of leg injuries, had begun working out, but that he would not resume baseball-related activities until January.

Until then, Jeter’s health will remain in doubt.

“We’re hoping that he’ll be back to where he was in 2012 before the [original] injury took place,” said Girardi, who was at Yankee Stadium on Thursday as the team and the USO helped prepare packages for active military.

“We’ll go through the offseason and allow him to do the things that he needs to do, and then keep our fingers crossed in spring training that it’s all good.”

The rest of the infield is up in the air, as well, with Mark Teixeira coming off a lost season due to a wrist injury and Robinson Cano testing free agency.

Girardi has yet to reach out to Cano since he hit the open market, but he intends to.

“I don’t think I need to sell him on the Yankees,” Girardi said. “I think he knows what it is. I think he sees the impact the players have had on this community and this organization, whether it’s a Mo [Rivera] or [Andy] Pettitte or a [Jorge] Posada and the legacy that they leave. But you’ve got to see what happens. He’s earned the right to go out and be a free agent and see what the market is, and hopefully he wants to come back.”

As Girardi and the Yankees learned again last season, whatever plans are dreamed up now may not work out in the long run.

“A lot of times things aren’t ironed out until approximately Feb. 1,” Girardi said. “I think we need to get a little healthier. … We’re going to have to fill some holes.”

Including at closer, where David Robertson will look to make the leap from the eighth inning to the ninth.

“I know we haven’t anointed anyone as a closer,” the manager said. “David Robertson has had a number of very good years here, but we’ve got to see what we can put together as a team as a whole before we do anything.”