The Yankees have been cagey about Alex Rodriguez’s spring-training schedule, and they intend to stay that way.
Mindful of the heat generated by the recent Miami New Times story alleging massive illegal performance-enhancing drug usage by Rodriguez, the Yankees will give the public no advance warning of their rehabilitating third baseman’s whereabouts.
“I’m not going to say to try and keep away the extra, whatever you want to call it, paparazzi, whatever it is, the stakeout, wherever he is working out,” general manager Brian Cashman said last night at the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan, where the Yankees held a fundraiser for WCBS-AM radio producer-engineer Carlos Silva, who is battling cancer. “That’s the only reason I’m not going to say where he is going to be on a given day.”
As The Post reported last week, the Miami New Times story — and the resulting Major League Baseball investigation — will not impact Rodriguez’s spring-training itinerary, Cashman said. Prior to last week, Cashman had said that A-Rod will split his spring training time between New York and the Yankees’ Tampa camp.
Joe Girardi said he has seen Rodriguez working out at Yankee Stadium since A-Rod’s left hip surgery Jan. 16. Since the story broke, the Yankees manager said he has communicated with Rodriguez, but only about his health. Girardi vowed the matter wouldn’t derail the 2013 Yankees.
“I think our club is used to handling distractions,” Girardi said at the fundraiser. “The city we play in, there’s a lot of news always surrounding our club. A lot of times, it’s a lot of good news.
“Our club will handle it. A club like ours is going to go through adversity all the time. Going through a season is never easy. Why would this year be any different?”
Mariano Rivera, also attending the event, demurred when asked about the A-Rod story. However, the returning closer vowed his support.
“We always support guys,” Rivera said. “They’re our teammates. We can’t turn our back on them. …[Rodriguez] will be the person to talk more when the time comes. Otherwise we’ll pray for him.”
“No one wants to be in the middle of these conversations at all,” Cashman said. “This is a player that plays for the New York Yankees. It’s a controversial situation that we can’t prejudge until we have accurate facts that can be supported or refuted.”
Sports Illustrated reported last night on its website that MLB investigators met yesterday with New Times staff members in Miami.
In other news, Girardi said he would allow Rivera to shag fly balls during pre-game batting practice even though Rivera suffered a season-ending right knee injury doing just that in 2012. The manager joked, though, that he would cancel batting practice for the Yankees’ entire trip to Kansas City — the site of Rivera’s accident last year.
Cashman and Girardi said they would discuss in spring training the idea of flip-flopping center fielder Curtis Granderson and left fielder Brett Gardner. Girardi, however, said he liked how well Gardner had acclimated to left field.
Cashman described young catcher Austin Romine as “on the outside looking in” — a long shot with an outside chance — in the competition to be the everyday starting catcher. Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart are the other candidates, although Cashman conceded Stewart is best positioned as a reserve.
Cashman divulged the Yankees invited their former All-Star Hideki Matsui, who announced his retirement in December, to be a special instructor for spring training. Matsui, whose wife is expecting a baby, declined.