Girardi: 'We Have Not Proved That We Are' Contenders Right Now
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Yankees manager Joe Girardi admitted the team is not playing like contenders right now.
Heading into Wednesday night's game against the Texas Rangers, the Yanks are two games below .500 at 37-39.
Mike Francesa asked Girardi about fans questioning whether the Yankees are a contending team this year.
"I understand those questions and, right now, we have not proved that we are. The only way to change people's minds is to go out and do it," Girardi responded.
Girardi got a scare Tuesday night after right fielder Carlos Beltran left the game in the first inning after suffering a tight right hamstring. The manager said that Beltran's hamstring is sore today and that he is going to be day-to-day.
Girardi also touched on Alex Rodriguez's struggles as he was recently benched for a couple of games.
"A-Rod's meant a lot to us. This is hard on all of us in a sense, but we're trying to DH Carlos more to keep him in the lineup more and Alex has had his struggles against right-handers, so we made a decision that that's what we're going to do," Girardi told Francesa. "Nothing has to be permanent, but people have to produce."
Rodriguez is only batting .219 with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in this season. Last year, A-Rod cranked out 33 long balls and 86 RBI.
Girardi also talked about pitching struggles for Nathan Eovaldi and Luis Severino and Aaron Judge tearing it up at Triple-A. Click on the audio player to listen to the entire interview.
