Even as he’s nearing his return for the New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez is still not feeling completely comfortable about his injured left thumb. Rodriguez and the Yankees have each confirmed that the thumb will likely be a lingering issue for the slugger for the remainder of the season.
Rodriguez has been out of action since the 9th of September. New York hoped the time off would allow Rodriguez to return closer to 100% as the club prepared for the playoffs.
While Yankees manager Joe Girardi hoped to have Rodriguez in his lineup Friday night when New York begins its weekend set with the Toronto Blue Jays, A-Rod didn’t sound quite as optimistic. The slugger reminded members of the press that he hasn’t “touched a bat in five days”. Rodriguez hopes to return for the Yankees tonight, but the thumb is still clearly bothering him.
It’s been determined that the injury is one that Rodriguez will just have to deal with for the rest of the year. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters that the thumb isn’t likely to require offseason surgery, but Rodriguez is susceptible to a setback at any time.
This fact has been made very clear. Rodriguez has already aggravated his thumb twice, causing him to miss 6 games at the end of August as well as the past 5.
New York hopes to use the rest of the regular season to ease Rodriguez back into the lineup. But with only 14 games remaining, it’s looking more and more likely that the Yankees will be carrying an injured Rodriguez into the postseason.
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