HOUSTON — With playing time reduced beyond being a bench player when the Yankees face a right-handed pitcher, Alex Rodriguez wasn’t in the lineup Monday night against Astros lefty Dallas Keuchel.
However, despite a .206 batting average and a .619 OPS to go with a .256 on-base percentage, the soon-to-be 41-year-old Rodriguez isn’t on the verge of being released.
“I can tell you it’s not a conversation we are having,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said. “That’s the way I have to leave it. Alex currently is a choice off the bench. Joe [Girardi] wrestles with matchups every day with his staff and our front office. Every now and then he will ask us for our opinions. When he makes the decisions, he makes them with great effort.’’
Girardi mentioned Rodriguez’s numbers against Keuchel as one reason he wasn’t in Monday night’s lineup. However, the greater emphasis was keeping Carlos Beltran going strong as the DH.
Left unsaid was the Yankees are considered a better team with Aaron Hicks in right field and Beltran the DH. Hicks hasn’t hit much, but he gets to more balls in right than Beltran and has a stronger, if not always accurate, arm. Also unsaid was the Yankees are paying Rodriguez $20 million this year and next.
Beltran leads the Yankees in batting average (.308), homers (21), and RBIs (62). Girardi says Beltran’s right hamstring is no longer an issue.
Outwardly, Rodriguez has kept a positive face. Monday night was the third straight game he didn’t start, but a visit with the team’s analytics department has helped his mind.
“A lot of the numbers indicate it’s turning in the right direction,’’ said Rodriguez, who has overhauled his mechanics that he says enables him to drive the ball to right-center and get more balls in the air. Plus, he said he has cut down on chasing pitches.“The first two months my mechanics were out of whack .’’
As for not being in the lineup against Keuchel, against whom he was 1-for-9, Rodriguez offered the same answer he has used throughout this stretch.
“When my number is called I will be ready,’’ Rodriguez said. “There are two things you can control, attitude and work ethic and I am going to focus on that. There are big things to come, not only this year but next year.’’
Rob Refsnyder started in left field for the first time this season and went 0-for-3. But he did save a run with a diving catch on Evan Gattis’ line drive toward the gap that would have scored a run.
Alex Bregman, the Astros’ highly respected prospect, made his major league debut and went 0-for-4 and struck out twice. He did inject a scare into the Yankees in the sixth when his bases-loaded, two-out fly ball to right chased Hicks to the warning track.
Adam Warren didn’t make it to Minute Maid Park for Monday night’s game, but Girardi said the right-hander is expected to be on hand in time for Tuesday’s tilt. After talking with the right-hander, who was acquired from the Cubs Monday, Girardi and Larry Rothschild will decide the best way to use Warren whose value is that he can start and work in short and long relief.
The Yankees have had a difficult time the past two months finding a dependable hurler to work the middle innings and that becomes more important with Aroldis Chapman being dealt Monday.
Starlin Castro saw Gleyber Torres in spring training of 2015 when he was with the Cubs and Torres was a heralded minor leaguer.
“He’s got talent. He’s a good kid, good personality. For me, he’s going to be a good player,’’ Castro said of Torres, who the Yankees acquired from the Cubs with three other players for Chapman.