In his return from a season-long suspension, embattled New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez finds himself in a strange situation to the say the least after the Yankees signed third baseman Chase Headley to a four-year, $52 million contract on Tuesday.
GM Brian Cashman indicated that he will have to compete with Martin Prado for time as Headley's backup at third, with his likely destination to be at DH in manager Joe Girardi's lineup.
"I can't expect Alex to be anything," Cashman said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press, via ESPN.com. "I've got to think the worst and hope for the best. Even before the suspension, he wasn't the same player at third base on the defensive or offensive side. And that was before the suspension.
"And now he's been out of the game for a year. He's approaching 40 years of age. And just to automatically assume given his circumstances that he'll be able to plug right in, play third as an everyday guy and hold up and be productive, I think that would be dangerous thinking from my perspective, in the seat I'm sitting in."
For Cashman, all of these signs point to Rodriguez being an offense-only player for the NY Yankees.
"So given all that circumstance, we look forward to him hopefully solidifying himself as a tremendous DH for us, and if he shows he has retained athleticism, then he can play third as a choice when Joe decides to give Headley a rest," Cashman stated. "He can compete for Joe's thought process, whether it's Prado swinging over or Alex playing third."
For Cashman, there is really no need to have a discussion with A-Rod about the change in his role.
"I don't need to. I've been very consistent with my conversations publicly from October on," he said. "I have not heard from Alex on any of that, and I know he reads all this stuff."
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