Gardner deals with trade rumors, takes on leadership role
TAMPA — In his first spring training with the Yankees, Brett Gardner wore No. 91 and had a locker between Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano. Now, a decade into his MLB career, Gardner wears No. 11, has a preferred corner locker and is the longest-tenured player on the team. “It’s crazy,” Gardner said Sunday. “It feels like yesterday I was praying not to get sent back across the street to minor-league camp. I guess it’s pretty cool. It’s something that I definitely cherish and don’t take lightly.” During the offseason, Gardner’s name was involved in trade talks. GM Brian Cashman said teams took their best shot with offers, but nothing made sense for the Yankees. Gardner, 33, has two seasons left on his contract at $25 million total. Gardner didn’t focus on it, but he certainly heard from his wife, mom and friends as to what was going on. “I usually try not to listen to it, to be honest, but it is what it is,” Gardner said. “On one hand, obviously I don’t want to get traded. But, on the other hand, the fact that maybe some other teams have interest in me, I see that as a compliment. But I don’t want to play anywhere else. I want to be here.” With A-Rod and Mark
Teixeira gone, it will be up to Gardner to provide leadership for his young teammates, many of whom he is excited about.
“For me, I feel like I need to be a leader, yeah,” said Gardner, who relied on veterans like Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon early in his career. “It’s going to be different (with Tex and A-Rod gone).
His best advice for the kids: “Don’t ever be complacent.”
Gardner posted a .713 OPS and 16 steals in 2016, numbers he feels need to be better. He had heard Cashman say that the Yankees may split up himself and Jacoby Ellsbury at the top of the lineup, but hadn’t had any discussions with Joe Girardi about it. Either way, Gardner is fine wherever he hits. Girardi said Sunday he continues to kick around the idea, but if he does split up Gardner and Ellsbury, the manager anticipates he will not have them 1 and 9.
Expectations for the Yankees in 2017 are nothing special. Gardner doesn’t mind.
“I don’t pay too much attention to expectations,” he said. “I think we’ve seen in the past that sometimes teams are expected to have a great year, and sometimes teams really surprise some people. And then you have last year with the Cubs: they were one of the best teams on paper all year and they were the best team at the end of the year.
“So I think we’ve got a lot of guys that are capable of having a better season than they had last year, myself included. I think we can pitch better, maybe play better defense and score more runs. So it’s up to me and some veteran guys to help these young guys feel comfortable and help them be successful, and I think we can have a really good year. For us, it’s always the same thing every year: we’re trying to win a World Series.”