As the Yankees continued through their sixth straight playoff appearance, a familiar face in Brett Gardner was not present.
The lifelong Yankee, not retired but not a part of any MLB roster this season, reportedly only wanted to return to New York for what would have been his 15th big league season, but an offer never came.
Now, with the Yankees in October without Gardner for the first time since 2007, Aaron Boone says he hasn’t spoken to the former Yankee mainstay, one of his “regrets” of the season.
“You know what? Unfortunately I have not talked to Gardy in a while,” Boone told reporters on Sunday. “It’s one of my regrets this year because I owe that to him.”
Some wondered if Gardner would be a midseason acquisition as multiple left field options crashed and burned, including Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks. Instead, Andrew Benintendi was brought in before breaking a hamate bone in his hand, replaced by rookie Oswaldo Cabrera.
Boone said Gardner was always an option, but in the end, it never panned out.
“I guess he was always in play,” Boone said. “The offseason was weird obviously because of the lockout and I couldn’t talk to people. And then all of a sudden, it broke and free agency and everything happened so quick.”
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