NEW YORK -- New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman called a trade of Alex Rodriguez "unrealistic," but said he would listen to offers for his third baseman -- a player he conceded is no longer a superstar -- if teams called to inquire about him.

Appearing on "Sunday Morning with Ian O'Connor" on ESPNNewYork 98.7 FM, Cashman said CC Sabathia's left elbow might require a surgical "cleanup" in the coming weeks, and he called hitting coach Kevin Long "safe" in wake of the lineup's collapse during Detroit's sweep of the American League Championship Series.

Cashman also ruled out the possibility of backup shortstop Eduardo Nunez being moved to another position, and he maintained that the team needs "to be very careful about what we do on multiyear deals as we approach 2014," which could be bad news for Robinson Cano and other Yankees looking to strike it rich despite Hal Steinbrenner's mandate to reduce payroll to $189 million in two years.

But the most pressing offseason issue revolves around Rodriguez, who was so dreadful against right-handers in the playoffs that manager Joe Girardi pinch-hit for him and benched him and inspired talk that A-Rod could be dealt this offseason.

"It's not like I'm going to hang phones up on anybody who wants to make any overtures about anything," Cashman told O'Connor. "You're talking about realistic stuff and unrealistic stuff. I don't think it's realistic at all for us to be moving forward with anything but Alex Rodriguez at third base.

"He's still an above-average third baseman. ... That means despite the contract that we had committed to him, that he's an asset at this stage still. I don't see us doing anything there. I don't anticipate it. If someone wants to make phone calls, we're more than willing to do all that stuff with any of our players, and that's fine. You can run into something that way.

"But listen, the sooner we put to bed any expectation or anticipation that the Yankees are going to be solely focused on trying to move Alex Rodriguez. ... I think that would be false. And it would be just a lot of wasted energy on anybody's part to be thinking."

While Cashman left open the possibility that something just as unexpected as his 2004 acquisition of A-Rod could unfold this offseason -- sending A-Rod to another team -- the GM said there is "no doubt" he expects the 37-year-old Rodriguez to be his starting third baseman in 2013.