ST. PETERSBURG – Don’t look for Alex Rodriguez in the middle of the Yankee lineup any time soon.
Rodriguez was slid into the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI Tube in Tampa yesterday, and the results on the strained right quad weren’t good enough for the medical staff to allow the reigning MVP to begin playing in minor league rehab games.
“I don’t see him playing this week,” manager Joe Girardi said during batting practice.
That means Rodriguez won’t face the Mets this weekend at Yankee Stadium for three Subway Series games. The earliest Rodriguez could return from the DL is May 20 when the Yankees face the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. However, that has to be in doubt because Rodriguez still needs to undergo a third MRI to gauge the progress and eventually play in a rehab game or two.
“He feels good, I think he was a little disappointed he isn’t going to play games [today],” Girardi said of Rodriguez, who was in the dugout for last night’s 7-1 loss to the Rays but unavailable to the media afterward.
According to Girardi, Dr. Allen Miller, the Yankees’ Tampa orthopedic surgeon, requested the MRI taken in New York late last month, be sent to him so he could compare tests.
“There is progress, but he is not where he needs to be,” Girardi said of Rodriguez, who worked out at the minor-league complex yesterday and will do the same today.
Since the Yankees aren’t limiting his workouts, Rodriguez hasn’t taken a step backward. What they don’t want is him injuring the leg to the point where he is gone for a long stretch.
“If he is not 100 percent he could risk going back to where he was,” Girardi said. “The MRI doesn’t show it’s healed. We can’t afford to have him for two days and lose him for six weeks.”
Rodriguez underwent the MRI in the morning and was on the field a little after four in the afternoon. He worked out for an hour, running and playing catch in the outfield, taking BP in the cage and on the field. “So far, so good,” Rodriguez said. “I am taking it one day at a time.”
The Yankees are 5-7 without Rodriguez and 1-4 against lefties without his potent bat.