Alex Rodriguez
Back and forth. Back and forth like a tennis volley. That’s what it feels like when it comes to the question of “Will Alex Rodriguez return to the Yankees lineup next week?”
Since having knee surgery in July, Rodriguez has been working on his rehab assignment at the Yankees Tampa training complex. Over the weekend A-Rod is scheduled to play in a couple of rehab games.
This week Rodriguez’s been practicing his swing and running bases. He’s also taken few ground balls.
“It’s all good stuff,” he said.
Whether he’ll play with the Class A Tampa Yankees or Gulf Coast Yankees, Rodriguez will serve as the DH. From there, the Yankees will monitor his progress to see if he’s fit to return to the lineup for next week.
However, Manager Joe Girardi doesn’t believe that A-Rod will be fit to return to the lineup by August 15th.
Joe Girardi
“My guess would be no, but I can’t tell you for sure,” he said. “It depends how he feels each day. But would I say at the beginning of the Kansas City series? No.”
While Girardi isn’t specific about Rodriguez’s official return date, he says that A-Rod will join the team at some point on their road trip.
“Yes, that’s our hope,” Girardi said.
Well, that certainly inspires confidence in the fans looking forward to his return. Some fans believe that the sooner, the better. Whether Rodriguez’s return invigorates his teammates and their level of play, who knows? While some of the Yankees have been having some difficulties (e.g. Burnett, Teixeira), the team hasn’t been performing that badly. There is always going to be a segment of the Yankees fan base that panics at every little thing. Luckily, this behavior doesn’t apply to the average Yankees fan.
One more thing that Alex Rodriguez has to look forward to is meeting with MLB officials regarding that pesky illegal poker rumor. Officials have yet to set a date for this meeting. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig isn’t expected to be at this meeting.
For his part, A-Rod doesn’t seem nervous about his upcoming meeting.
“I’m looking forward to (the meeting),” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “I’m concentrating on baseball.”
