TAMPA – After all that, Brett Gardner is still a Yankee.
Gardner and the Yankees agreed on a one-year contract, according to a source, that will return the left-handed player to the Bronx, less than a week before the position players show up for spring training.
Gardner, 37, has been one of the veteran free agents who has been unable to reach an agreement this offseason, and although manager Aaron Boone has stated that Clint Frazier is the Yankees ’starting left football field and team has added some depth to the field to Greg Allen, Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich, a meeting with Gardner was never out of the question.
Asked why Gardner was not part of the Yankees “up to this point” on Friday, Boone replied, “So far.”
On Wednesday, Boone said of Gardner’s condition, “You never know what might happen or sweat. See me.”
Gardner finished in 2020 bluntly, going from 13 to 33 with 1,190 OPS over his last 13 games of the regular season and was a major factor in the playoffs.
The Yankees’ list of 40 men is full and they have also reached an agreement with leftist Justin Wilson. Luis Severino, recovered from Tommy John’s surgery, may be included in the 60-day injured list to open a spot, but the Yankees would still have to make another move.