MLB

Yanks GM Cashman not searching for Gardner replacment

WASHINGTON — The Yankees have been tempting fate since losing Brett Gardner in April with a strained right elbow by sending Raul Ibanez and Andruw Jones into left field on a regular basis.

Though Gardner still isn’t close to returning, general manager Brian Cashman insists he’s not shopping for a replacement.

“I’m not looking to do anything with the outfield,” Cashman said by phone before the Yankees beat the Nationals, 7-2, for their seventh straight win. “If someone is out-righted or becomes a free agent or looks to do something in a minor-league deal, I’ll look at it if it makes sense. I don’t want to give up anything to get an outfielder.”

Cashman said last week to being concerned with wearing out the “old guys,” but it’s a situation that appears unlikely to change, because the general manager would have to make a significant addition to the roster to make that happen and tests done on Gardner’s elbow this week indicated that he needs at least three or four more weeks of rest for the elbow that he injured nearly two months ago.

Manager Joe Girardi said he is confident the Yankees can survive without making any moves as they wait for Gardner to get back.

YANKEES BOX SCORE

“We miss [Gardner],” Girardi said of the speedster, who has played only nine games in his injury-plagued 2012. “[But] we’ve made it work and it’s worked out OK for us.”

The worry remains that Jones and Ibanez will wear out if they continue to play left on a fairly regular basis when they were signed to largely serve in a part-time DH role.

That’s particularly true because the Yankees clearly don’t know when to expect Gardner back on the field, since he already has suffered two setbacks in his recovery.

Girardi said he knows he won’t be able to write Gardner’s name in the lineup at least through the All-Star break and potentially considerably longer.

Of Gardner’s rehab potentially starting within a month, Girardi noted: “We’ve said that before.”

But those stints did not end up providing a healthy Gardner back in the majors, so the manager isn’t holding his breath.

“It depends on how it heals,” Girardi said of Gardner’s latest attempt to get back to 100 percent. “I don’t think any of us have a true timetable of when he’s coming back.”

With the trade deadline still six weeks away, the landscape of available outfielders could change and with it, the Yankees’ thinking.

But for now, they seem determined to stay the course.

— Additional reporting by George A. King III