HERE WE GO AGAIN: Yankees general manager Brian Cashman (inset) expects Alex Rodriguez to return to the team next season despite his postseason benching. (
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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Brian Cashman, arriving last night at the General Managers Meetings, reiterated he expects Alex Rodriguez to be a Yankee in 2013.
Asked whether he anticipates receiving calls from teams interested in acquiring the Yankees’ aging third baseman, Cashman said, “I don’t see that happening.”
A-Rod, 37, ended his season in brutal fashion, getting repeatedly benched and lifted for pinch hitters during the playoffs and getting busted (by The Post) soliciting female fans’ phone numbers during Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, after he had departed the contest.
With five years and $114 million remaining on the 10-year, $275 million agreement he signed during the 2007-08 offseason, Rodriguez is virtually untradeable. Furthermore, he controls his destiny thanks to a full no-trade clause.
The meetings will begin today, and Cashman said he expects to meet with “whatever agents are here” in addition to officials from other clubs. Larry Reynolds, the representative for free-agent right fielder Torii Hunter (as well as free-agent center fielder B.J. Upton) is among those expected to attend the meetings.
Cashman said he hasn’t heard yet from Andy Pettitte whether the veteran left-hander intends to play next season, although Pettitte hinted strongly at such a desire last month. And the Yankees’ GM declined comment when asked if he had engaged in negotiations with agent Fernando Cuza to re-sign Mariano Rivera, who notified Cashman late last week of his interest in returning.
Since the Yankees were swept out of the ALCS by Detroit, Cashman said he had met multiple times with Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner to go over the team’s budget for 2013 and beyond. Steinbrenner still intends to get the team’s payroll below $189 million for 2014, Cashman affirmed.
Furthermore, Cashman said, he had met with his scouts and charted a course for this offseason. That course will take some baby steps this week.
In one Hurricane Sandy-related note, Cashman said CC Sabathia is undergoing rehabilitation from his left elbow surgery in Manhattan. Last week, in order for Sabathia to enter the city from his New Jersey home, Yankees head athletic trainer Steve Donohue met the pitcher near his home so the big lefty would have three people in his car, meeting the city’s minimum threshold to enter Manhattan.
* The Yankees claimed right-handed pitcher David Herndon off waivers from the Blue Jays and left-handed pitcher Josh Spence from the Padres.
Herndon, 27, has appeared in 97 major league games from 2010-12, all in relief with the Phillies, going 2-8 with one save and a 3.85 ERA (117.0 IP, 50 ER). He appeared in five games for the Phillies last season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June.
Spence, 24, made 11 relief appearances over two stints with San Diego in 2012, going 0-1 with a 4.35 ERA. He spent the majority of the season with Triple-A Tucson, going 4-2 with a 4.20 ERA in 31 games.