NEW YORK -- Joe Girardi's career with the New York Yankees came to an end Tuesday when the team failed to offer their former catcher salary arbitration.

	Girardi

The Yankees also declined to offer utility infielder Luis Sojo arbitration, meaning both players are free agents and ineligible to sign with New York until May 1.

The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis are the two leading contenders to sign Girardi.

The departure of Girardi, who won three World Series championships in his four years in New York, means Jorge Posada will become the No. 1 catcher next season.

"Now it's time for Posada to step up," said manager Joe Torre, speaking after the Yankees were honored by The Sporting News as "Sportsmen of the Year."

"This will be a big year for him. He'll have the opportunity to catch every day and won't have the pressure on him like he did last season."

New York exercised a $3.4 million option to bring back Girardi last season as insurance to back up Posada. But when Posada struggled at the start of the season, Girardi got more playing time.

The Yankees pitchers are more comfortable pitching to Girardi, who is one of the more respected defensive catchers in baseball. But Posada has more offensive potential.

Posada hit .210 the first half of the season and finished with a .245 average, 12 homers and 57 RBI. Posada also committed 17 passed balls, second most in the AL.

"Jorge thought he would put up big numbers and when he started badly, he didn't think rationally and tried to dig himself out by hitting home runs," Torre said. "It affected his game and it got pretty ugly defensively."

Finding Girardi's replacement is one of the final decisions this offseason for the Yankees, who have already re-signed David Cone, Mike Stanton and Allen Watson and brought back Darryl Strawberry. They also agreed to a $1 million contract with Jim Leyritz but haven't announced it yet.

"We'll have a lot of discussions with a lot of players out there," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We will create a situation where we will probably have non-roster invitees to spring training who will compete for the job. The decision might not be made until the end of spring training."

New York probably won't be able to spend $3.4 million again on a backup catcher. The Yankees, who led the majors with a $92 million payroll last season, have already committed about $68.7 million to 15 players for next year.

After reaching deals with arbitration-eligible players Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Ramiro Mendoza, Dan Naulty, Jason Grimsley and Posada, the Yankees payroll could top $100 million.

"I'm always concerned about payroll, but our fans support this team and they deserve a great team," said owner George Steinbrenner, who insisted next year's payroll wouldn't be the first to top $100 million.

That could all change if the Yankees go after Ken Griffey Jr., who has requested a trade from Seattle.

While the Yankees are just monitoring the Griffey talks for the time being, with Steinbrenner in charge they can never be discounted.

"I'm not saying anybody's in or out," Steinbrenner said.

Notes
Torre, who missed two months last season after undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, finishes his radiation treatments at the end of this month. ... New York also finalized a $3 million, two-year contract with Watson on Tuesday. ... Yankees tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. ET Thursday.