NEW YORK -- The Yankees let Tino Martinez go Tuesday, declining their $3 million option on the popular first baseman.
Martinez returned to New York this year and hit .241 in part-time duty with 17 home runs and 49 RBI. He was a staple in the Yankees' lineup from 1996-01, helping the team to four World Series championships and five AL pennants with his clutch hitting and reliable defense.
Always a fan favorite at Yankee Stadium, he was brought back to provide insurance at first base for slugger Jason Giambi, who was coming off a 2004 season wrecked by illness and injury. And Martinez did his job, going on an early home run tear while Giambi was still struggling, a big reason the Yankees were able to recover from an 11-19 start to win their eighth consecutive AL East title.
But Giambi, now healthy, found his stroke as the summer wore on, pushing Martinez to the bench most games. Often used as a defensive replacement, the two-time All-Star finished with 303 at-bats in 131 games.
"At this stage, I'm trying to reduce payroll," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at the GM meetings in Indian Wells, Calif. "We have a young player who's knocking on the door, Andy Phillips, who's a right-handed bat and provides flexibility to Joe Torre. We're gravitating toward that concept. We're not locked into it, but that's the current direction."
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2217949
What Cashman said in bold makes me really excited. I'm glad to see we're through throwing out big bucks to over the hill players. I'll miss Tino, because he is one of my all-time Yankee favs but he wasn't going to help us in 2006. Looks like they'll be ready to give Andy Phillips a good look at 1B.