GARDY TIRED OF BEING A LOSER
Bothered by decade since last title, vet out to help Yanks end drought
TAMPA — When Luis Severino throws the first pitch on March 28 against the Orioles in The Bronx, it will start the 10th anniversary season of the Yankees’ last World Series title.
Only Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia remain from that club that beat the Phillies in six games for the Yankees’ 27th World Series crown, which came nine seasons after the previous one in 2000.
To Gardner, the decade has passed very quickly, but not without a pain that won’t subside.
“It has flown by. It’s been a disappointing 10 years,’’ Gardner said before the Yankees worked out Thursday at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “It’s been more disappointing for me and I have lost a lot more sleep. We are trying to get back there. Anything short of that is unacceptable.’’
That is a common refrain in the Yankees’ universe, which means the past nine seasons have been failures on some level despite the Yankees taking the Astros to Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS and winning 100 games last season when they were handled by the Red Sox in the ALDS.
Still, for Gardner the clock is ticking. He will be 36 in August, playing on a one-year deal ($7.5 million plus a $2.5 million buyout) he signed as a free agent after the Yankees didn’t pick up a $12.5 million option. And he has to deal with Clint Frazier and Estevan Florial, who are looking for jobs in the Yankees’ outfield.
Gardner, who debuted in the major leagues in 2008, could have at least fielded offers from other teams, but staying with the only organization he has ever been a part of was too strong of a pull.
“I didn’t want to go anywhere else, but if they didn’t want me … It’s CC’s last year and what happened 10 [years ago],’’ Gardner said of his desire to stay in New York. “In the last two years, we have made strides from where we were before. We have a better group of guys than I have ever seen. There is nowhere else I wanted to be. I love playing in New York and playing for those fans. Look at the free-agent market now. Who knows where I would have been?’’
When the prospect of leaving the Yankees seeped into his head, Gardner reached for memories of those who did exit The Bronx.
“Guys would call and say, ‘You don’t want to come over here,’ ” Gardner said, without identifying the players or teams.
The plan entering spring training is that Gardner will play left field against righthanded pitchers. But there will be games when Giancarlo Stanton is in left no matter whether the starter is left- or right-handed, and should the right-handed hitting Frazier make the team, he could get at-bats in left.
Gardner is coming off a season in which he played 140 games, his fewest since 2012 when he was limited to 16 games due to a right elbow problem that required arthroscopic surgery in late July. His .236 batting average was Gardner’s lowest since he batted .228 in 2008, his first year in the big leagues when he played in 42 games.
In typical Gardner fashion, he said he is willing to help Frazier navigate the rough waters all young players experience.
“There are no hard feelings, we are on the same team,’’ Gardner said of tutoring Frazier, who was limited to 15 big-league games last year due to a concussion suffered early in spring training and issues related to it later in the year. “We are all trying to do the same thing.’’
As for the future, Gardner said he would like to play for a couple of more years, and that his family is on board with the idea.
“They are still enjoying the run,’’ Gardner said.
Though Aaron Boone cherishes Gardner’s leadership qualities, he reminded people not to discount his playing ability.
“I think it is important to remember this is still a really productive player,’’ Boone said. “He is a premium outfielder, and left field in our ballpark it is important [to have] a really good defender out there, which I think he is the best in baseball out there. He still has the ability to get on base and run. I still think the power is in there even though the homer numbers fell off a little bit last year [12 after a career-high 21 in 2017]. I expect him to be a really good player for us again this year.’’
“It’s been a disappointing 10 years. It’s been more disappointing for me and I have lost a lot more sleep. We are trying to get back there. Anything short of that is unacceptable.’’ — Brett Gardner, on the fact the Yankees haven’t been to the World Series since 2009