Alex Rodriguez may be back in the Yankees’ lineup as soon as tomorrow night after not playing since September 9, but general manager Brian Cashman revealed that the team expects his thumb injury to linger for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
Here’s what Cashman told Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York:
He’s got a Grade 1 sprain and it’s not going to go away completely this season. It only goes away with time, which is not something that’s necessarily in our favor. It’s a sprained collateral ligament and it’s more of an irritating thing than anything else. It could take six days, or 15 days, or 30 days, and even if he feels 100 percent, one wrong move or one bad swing or checked swing or dive or whatever could bring it right back to square one again. It’s just something he’s going to have to deal with.
Rodriguez initially suffered the thumb injury on August 24, shortly after returning from the disabled list following back surgery, and has played just nine of 24 games since then while hitting .226 (although he has managed two homers and a solid .866 OPS). He’ll fall short of 30 homers and 100 RBIs for the first time since 1997 and Rodriguez’s current .842 OPS is the lowest of his career.