SARASOTA, Fla. — Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Stephen Drew was the Yankees’ starting second baseman on Tuesday.
And Drew made it clear that was his expectation when he was told of the statement later in the day.
That’s all well and good, but it won’t mean much if Drew doesn’t figure out a way to, you know, hit.
The Yankees are counting on the fact that he can — and so is Drew.
“No doubt,” Drew said before going hitless in three at-bats in a 3-1 loss to the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. “You learn a lot in the game through 10 years. I’ve gone through struggles, but nothing like the last couple of years.”
He really hasn’t been the same player since breaking his right ankle in 2011 and missing the rest of that season, as well as much of 2012. A concussion in 2013 didn’t help.
Drew said lingering injuries aren’t what are holding him back.
“It’s good now,” Drew said of the fractured ankle. “I’m lucky. It definitely could have been career ending. Now, it’s doing really well. My problems last year were all about a lack of at-bats in spring training.”
The decision to decline the Red Sox’ qualifying offer of $14.1 million backfired. Drew didn’t find a job until May, when he re-upped with Boston.
Since then, though, he has been a mess at the plate.
In 145 plate appearances with the Red Sox, Drew had an OPS of just .583. After being traded to the Yankees in July, Drew managed to be even less productive and his OPS dropped to .491.
“I tried to do too much to make for lost time all season,” Drew said. “I’m just trying to work on normal things this spring like I did the rest of my career.”
The spotlight will be on Drew even though he owed just $5 million — a mere drop in the bucket compared to the investments made to some of his teammates. The Yankees don’t have a reliable option if it turns out Drew’s 2014 was no fluke.
“We expect him to be a productive hitter [and] to get back to the form he was at before last year,” Girardi said. “I think he got behind [and it] was difficult for him to catch up.”
Girardi echoed what general manager Brian Cashman said when they brought Drew back: that he would be the starting second baseman.
“Our plan is for it to be Stephen,” Girardi said. “We signed him to be our second baseman.”
Asked what he would do if Drew’s numbers are similar to what they were a year ago, Girardi supported Drew.
“If everyone was to struggle, we’d probably make a change,” Girardi said. “That’s the nature of our game. We didn’t sign him to struggle. We signed him to perform at a high level, and we expect that he will.”
Like many others, the manager is waiting to see if Drew can rebound.
“Stephen Drew is a productive player,” Girardi said. “He had a bad year last year for whatever reason. You try to put your finger on it.”
Drew would rather not think too much about last season and instead focus on his return to a typical schedule.
“You can’t get into a rhythm the way things worked out,” Drew said. “It’s just hard to play catch-up against big-league pitching. That was the biggest adjustment. I was in really good shape from working out, but it doesn’t matter. You have to have at-bats this time of year, consistent at-bats because that’s when you can tweak things.”