The Yankees have limped out of the All-Star break and with all their problems seem a better bet to finish below .500 than reach the postseason.
With Joe Girardi’s contract up at the end of the season, team president Randy Levine was asked about the manager’s job security.
“Joe Girardi is a great manager,” Levine said at a press conference for the NHL’s Stadium Series, a pair of games at Yankee Stadium in January featuring the Rangers against the Islanders and the Devils. “We’re not getting into any of that talk today.”
But that talk will only continue if the team continues to sink, although Levine called the Yankees’ amount of injuries this year “unprecedented.”
“Obviously, we’re struggling and the team is not playing well,” Levine said. “We still have time in the season.”
No big moves appear to be in the works.
“This is the team that’s on the field,” Levine said. “They’re going to have to start playing better or they’re not going to be in the playoffs. It’s as simple as that.”
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Levine sounded confident the current players could make a run.
“We’ve got a lot of talent on this team,’’ Levine said. “We’ve got a lot of great players. We just have to play better. I think the team over-performed for a long time. It’s up to them to win and turn it around. That’s what has to happen.”
* Alabama football coach Nick Saban told reporters Girardi spent yesterday’s off day speaking to the Crimson Tide and addressed the team about several things that can have a negative impact on a team that faces a lot of pressure: complacency, selfishness and accountability.
Saban visited the Yankees during spring training this season.
* Donald Fehr was MLB Players Association executive director Michael Weiner’s boss with the players union from 1988-2009, and though he wouldn’t go into detail about the appeal of Alex Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension, he supported the union.
“I have complete confidence in the team that’s there to represent the players to the best of their ability and entirely professionally,” said Fehr, who is currently in charge of the NHL Players Association.
Fehr defended Rodriguez’s decision to fight the ban.
“Any player that wants to have a hearing has an absolute right to have a hearing and the facts will be what the facts are,” said Fehr, who added he would not be a candidate to take over his old job down the road. “I have a job. I’m happy with it. I’m obviously going to be willing to give whatever help and advice anybody wants. I’ve got enormous affection for that organization and the players. They have to be looking for the next 15-25 years, not the last 15-25 years.”
* Right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda, currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, was placed on the disabled list with shoulder stiffness.
Utilityman Brent Lillibridge, who was designated for assignment on Monday, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press