A-Rod's Might Not Ba Back Soon As We Thought

From Roger Rubin:

Alex Rodriguez wants to get back in the Yankees lineup ahead of the May 15 schedule laid out for him. If Friday was anything to judge by, that's going to be a tall order.

Rodriguez continued on his road back from March 9 hip surgery by playing in an extended spring training game between Yankees and Pirates farmhands here at Pittsburgh's minor league complex. He took seven at-bats, did not play the field and barely ran the bases. That meant no full-speed running, no hard turns and no sliding - all things A-Rod says he must do before he returns.

"I felt good," he said after hitting a single in his final at-bat to finish 1-for-6 with a walk. "I'm looking forward to playing on the field."

To make it back for the Baltimore series that begins Friday, he has only a few days to do a lot. Joe Girardi said that Rodriguez could play a few innings in the field today "if he feels up to it" during an extended spring training game.

The next series begins May 12 in Toronto and the club would have to weigh the pros and cons of playing him on an artificial surface.

"I'm not going to give a date because I don't want to put any pressure on him," Girardi said. "I've stuck to that, but I've also said recently it's possible we're going to get him sooner than May 15."

Girardi agrees that A-Rod is going to have to prove himself running the bases, but added, "Let's not rush him. He'll let us know when he's ready." On Thursday, Rodriguez sounded apprehensive about sliding.

While there's no doubt that the Yankees need A-Rod back eventually, Girardi is right, they don't need to rush him back. Even if that means an extra two weeks without him, the smart move is to play it safe. Besides all the risks in rushing an injured player back before they're fully healed, the truth is, production from the third baseman and the offense in general is not a problem right now. The only reason the Yankees aren't eight games over .500 right now is because they haven't gotten enough pitching.

For now I have no problems with seeing the Yanks start Ramiro Pena every day for the next two or three weeks and then bring back a fully-healed A-Rod. Pena is showing a lot more at the plate than anyone ever expected and his glove has been as good as advertised (besides that one ball he should have caught yesterday).