Alex Rodriguez says he’ll return to the Yankees lineup on Monday night.
“So far, so good,” A-Rod said in a WFAN interview on Wednesday. “If we have a good weekend, I’ll be in Texas.”
This weekend will be spent with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre and it’s apparently the final hurdle in Rodriguez’s return from January hip surgery. The Yankees slugger will play Thursday-Sunday with the team and then could be called up to join the big-league squad for the first time this season.
Monday, July 22, is the date that his 20-day rehab clock ends and the Yankees would have to call him up or possibly put him on the DL.
“I think I am getting closer. I hit a ball yesterday, 93-94 MPH from a left-handed pitcher and I was able to drive it over the left-field wall,and that’s something I know for sure I couldn’t do in August, September, October last year,” Rodriguez said of the torn labrum that limited him in the postseason and led to his benching in the ALCS against the Tigers.
“And, by the way, I couldn’t even do that last week. So, the progression is coming very well. Even last night, I went 0-for-3, but I drove the ball to the outfield all three times.”
Of course, the last time Rodriguez made such a definitive prediction on his health, GM Brian Cashman told him to “shut the f— up.” But this time the two appear to be in lock step on his return date.
“That’s the hope,” general manager Brian Cashman told ESPN.com. “We’ll see through the weekend. We started the 20-day rehab and once we felt he could complete the 20 days and be available to us in Texas. So let’s get through the weekend and see where he is at and see if he is major league able.”
A-Rod said that his relationship with the Yankees has improved since the dust-up, which followed A-Rod tweeting that he had been cleared to play in games.
“Over the last several weeks, we’ve had good communication, productive conversations,” he said. “I think we have the same goal, which is to get back on the field, help the team win. The team has been a phenomenal job of keeping us in the race. The good news for us, is that hopefully the Captain (Derek Jeter) and I, will come back at the same time and we have three or four players behind us and before you know it we’ll have a full lineup in there and we’ll help the guys that have been doing a great job to date.”
Rodriguez was mostly quiet on the PED case linked to Biogenesis. A-Rod did meet with MLB on Friday, but denied that a deal was in place for him to be suspended 150 games.
“No deals. At this moment is all we can discuss on matter. There’s no deal that I instructed any one to do at this point,” he said.
Union head Michael Weiner said Tuesday that he expects suspensions to be ruled on within the month, but that it’s unlikely any will be served till next season.