NEW YORK _ Miguel Andujar had great reason to feel relieved during the All-Star break, when it became clear that the Yankees would not be replacing him at third base with Manny Machado. Except Andujar said he never was all that worried in the first place.
"I've said this since the beginning: You can't pay attention to rumors. If you start focusing on the noise out there, you'll get distracted and you won't be able to do your job," Andujar said through an interpreter Friday, before the first post-break game. "And at the end of it all, the most important thing for me is to do my job, keep helping this team, keep giving the best I have."
He will get that opportunity because Machado was dealt by the Orioles to the Dodgers and not to the Bronx.
"He wasn't handed anything," Aaron Boone said of Andujar, adding that he took advantage of a chance early in the season "and has run with it."
"I think it speaks volumes that he's still here because of how the organization _ me, our coaches, our players _ value him and how high we think his ceiling is, what kind of player he is and what kind of person he is."
