Cashman, Girardi expect to play out contracts

NEW YORK — Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi are heading into the final year of their respective contracts in 2017, and neither of them are expected to be extended until that season ends, Cashman said on Wednesday.

That issue, along with a number of others, was addressed by Cashman during a news conference on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

“I assume things will play out the way they’ve played out for a long time here, where we will go through next year and collective ownership will decide what we want to do as we move forward,” Cashman said. “Unless ownership tells me otherwise, there’s that built-in assumption that we play our contracts out and then they’ll decide.”

Cashman has been the GM since he replaced Bob Watson after the Yankees won the 1996 World Series. Girardi replaced Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre in 2008.

Girardi has 819 wins and a .562 winning percentage in his nine seasons managing the club. However, the Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2009 and haven’t even won a postseason contest since Game 5 of the ’12 American League Division Series, when they eliminated Baltimore. They were swept by the Tigers that year in the AL Championship Series.

The Yanks have played only one postseason game since then, losing the AL Wild Card Game at home to Houston in 2015.

Cashman praised Girardi for the job he did during a transition season, in which the GM dealt veterans Carlos Beltran, Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Ivan Nova at the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline and subsequently released slumping slugger Alex Rodriguez. Mark Teixeira also announced his retirement, which happened at the end of the season.

The Yankees brought up rookie catcher Gary Sanchez and first baseman Tyler Austin, who both had a significant influence as the club remained in postseason contention …

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