Yankees News: Alex Rodriguez To Play First Sunday

Alex Rodriguez has hit more this spring than I think anybody would have thought. In order to help his standing on the roster, A-Rod had to be more versatile. Especially with the age and injury concerns for Mark Teixeira. Well, we all thought the experiment was off, but it turns out it’s on.

A-Rod will start at first base on Sunday vs the Astros and play five innings at the position. The first time he’s ever played first in a game. Here’s Joe Girardi according to Mark Feinsand of the Daily News

"“He’s done some extra work,” Joe Girardi said. “We did cut off relays with the shift the other day and we had him at first doing it. We’ll go over the bunt defenses again before we leave. Those are the things that are going to be a little tricky.”"

Apparently, A-Rod will be mainly an emergency option at the position, however, with the age on this roster, I think anything and everything should be in play.

"Girardi has no plans to use A-Rod at first base during the season, viewing him as more of a “break glass in case of emergency” option. Garrett Jones will be Mark Teixeira’s primary backup at first base.“If something were to happen to one of them, just trying to prepare ourselves,” Girardi said. “As we know it’s a long grind and there’s some day games after night games, and there’s some days that we’ll get in late, and those might be days that you choose to sit certain people. I think the one thing that we have with this club, we have depth.”“I’m thinking of first base to give Joe as many options as he could possibly have,” Rodriguez said. “I know he likes to give guys rest; I know he likes matchups. I just want to be an asset to Joe all year.”"

Do I expect a lot of A-Rod this year? I don’t think anyone should, but if he can help anywhere, and show some versatility it should help over the next three years.