A ‘PAIN’FUL CURE
Creating injury for A-Rod DL stint would solve Girardi’s roster issue
SUBSTITUTE “them” and “they” for “him” and “he,” plus “injury” for “kidnapping,” and we’ve got ourselves a stopgap solution to the Alex Rodriguez mess.
“Phony” probably constitutes too harsh a term for what the Yankees and A-Rod need to do here. Let’s call it an injury of convenience. Something, anything that’s nagging A-Rod, who is 41 and has logged more miles than the USS Intrepid, and which can take him out of commission until rosters expand to 40 on Sept. 1.
For t he Yankees have emerged from their massive sale looking competent and engaged, even in light of their 4-1 Subway Series defeat to the Mets on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, and what a shame that they’re doing that with essentially a 24-man roster.
“He’s part of our club and he’s going to continue to be part of our club,” Joe Girardi said of A-Rod on Thursday, during a tense pregame news conference. “That’s the bottom line. These are the players and I’ll continue to manage them the best way I feel for the club to win games.”
In Thursday’s series finale against the Mets, that meant going with rookie Gary Sanchez as the designated hitter against A-Rod’s elder Bartolo Colon. A-Rod owns a .411/.429/1.000 slash line in 63 plate appearances (combined regular season and postseason) against Colon, with eight homers, yet 57 of those meetings occurred in 2007 or earlier. In 2012, A-Rod went 1-for-6 against Colon.
“I was surprised not to see him,” Colon, the winning pitcher, said of A-Rod through a translator. “He always hits well against me. I say, ‘That’s my dad.’ ”
“We called Sanchez up and he’s going to play,” Girardi said. “The at-bats that have been tougher on Alex have been right-handed at-bats. So [we’re] staying with Sanchie.”
Sanchez went 2-for-4 Thursday with a double. He also started Wednesday against Mets southpaw Steven Matz. Which leaves A-Rod as … a pinch hitter? An injury replacement? A de facto coach?
“I can’t really tell you exactly when I’m going to play him,” Girardi acknowledged.
This issue obviously rises above Girardi’s pay grade. A-Rod has approximately another $28 million coming to him through next season, and both managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman have strongly indicated they don’t intend to release the 696-home run man.
While they should just release Rodriguez, I get them thinking otherwise. The Yankees are four weeks away from being able to defer this issue until Opening Day of next year. They can see what the winter brings and even carry A-Rod into spring training next year. This is the man with more baseball lives than anyone.
Nevertheless, what sort of message are the Yankees sending not only to their fans but to their other players by rostering A-Rod right now?
Hence the liberally diagnosed injury. Or, if it makes everyone feel better, call it the Giambi Plan. In 2014, the Indians re-signed Jason Giambi, 43, to hit some and lead some. He stopped hitting. He went on the disabled list three times; the last stint began on June 12, due to left knee inflammation, and didn’t conclude until … wait for it … Sept. 1.
“There were some situations where I could have come off the DL sooner, but that’s what the ball club needed,” the ex-Yankee told the Cleveland Plain Dealer after gett i ng a ct i vated. “Sometimes you have to take a step back, put your ego in your back pocket and say, ‘What’s best for the ball club?’ ”
Could A-Rod do that? He’d have to, in order for this plan to work. He didn’t make himself available for comment on Thursday.
You can put a player on the disabled list as long as you have a doctor’s authorization, and there would be no insurance ramifications here. Then in September, with no roster crunch? Maybe A-Rod gets some chance or two and knocks a few balls over the wall.
Yes, in order cure to what ails the Yankees, they need, of all things, an injury. kdavidoff@nypost.com