It looks like A-Rod will be safe at third.
Major League Baseball officials will not suspend injured Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez over illegal poker allegations, The Post has learned.
“Even if it is determined that he was [playing illegal poker], he will not be suspended at this time for this infraction,” a source said. “He will be warned again and not lightly.”
Last week, baseball brass announced that they would call Rodriguez into MLB headquarters to be grilled about claims he played in high stakes private games frequented by thugs and drug users.
League officials have been probing Rodriguez’s alleged poker playing, reports of which first surfaced early last month.
But the source told The Post that, unless Rodriguez admits to some other more serious infraction, he will not be suspended for any of the activities that so far have been alleged.
Although MLB objects to the behavior, the league apparently does not feel that it is serious enough to suspend Rodriguez for any period of time.
They will give him a serious warning to stay out of that kind of game, the source said. The new warning will come after the league previously cautioned the star slugger about his card playing in 2005.
Rodriguez still has not yet met with MLB probers — a meeting his spokesman said he “looks forward to.” The meeting could come in the next two weeks.
Also, baseball will seek to have language added to the next collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association that specifically bans playing in illegal underground poker games and other illicit gambling.
The Yankees have declined to comment on the poker reports.
Rodriguez was first linked last month to a ring of underground games, which were sometimes frequented by celebrities such as Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, according to Star Magazine.
Rodriguez, through his spokesman, denied playing in the games.
Last week, the publication expanded on its Rodriguez poker story by quoting unnamed sources saying that he was present at a game in Beverly Hills at which a fight nearly broke out when the host refused to pay his losses. Someone — not Rodriguez — also used cocaine at the game, the story said.
Star also reported that Rodriguez hosted his own poker game in Miami, but it broke down into a debacle when one sore loser brought in “thugs” to intimidate other players.
Rodriguez spokesman Richard Rubenstein said the reports were filled with “numerous factual errors.” When asked if he could say that Rodriguez never participated in any illegal private games, Rubenstein said he could only stick to his statement.
Rodriguez refused to discuss the poker allegations when he talked to reporters last week while doing rehab work in Tampa after knee surgery.
The source said MLB officials also will seek to question some of the actors and celebrities linked to the poker ring, though they will be under no obligation to talk to baseball investigators.