Reports: A-Rod Could Start Rehab Assignment Next Week
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Here comes A-Rod.
Alex Rodriguez could start seeing action in rehab games for the New York Yankees "in fewer than 10 days," according to the New York Post.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman couldn't give the paper "an exact date," but said the third baseman would begin at Single-A Tampa.
A-Rod, at the center of Major League Baseball's investigation into a shuttered Florida anti-aging clinic that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs to players, has been rehabbing from offseason hip surgery at the team's Tampa facility.
"He may beat everyone back," a team source told WFAN and CBSSports.com baseball insider Jon Heyman last week, referring to captain Derek Jeter and the rest of the injured Yankees.
According to the New York Daily News, Rodriguez has been medically cleared to start his rehab assignment as early as July 1.
"Normally, position players need 50-75 at-bats, or 20 games," Cashman told the Daily News.
A-Rod is smack in the middle of baseball's firestorm surrounding Biogenesis and its operator, Anthony Bosch. He was first linked to the clinic in January, when the Miami New Times reported that Rodriguez's name or nicknames appeared multiple times in Biogenesis' records. Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun and Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli have also been tied to the clinic, among others. All have denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, Bosch has agreed to cooperate with MLB investigators. The league will reportedly be seeking bans of 100 games for some players.
"All we can do is rehab the player," Cashman told the Daily News. "We ... support the commissioner's efforts. Their efforts are our efforts. Anyone guilty of cheating the game needs to go down, whether they're a Yankee or not a Yankee. It'll get resolved one way or the other. We're waiting. All we can do is play the players we have."
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