Alex Rodriguez Suffers Setback in Return from DL

The hope that Alex Rodriguez would be ready to return to the Yankees’ lineup Thursday when his disabled list stint expires has proven to be too optimistic.

Randy Miller of NJ.com reports that A-Rod felt some discomfort in his strained hamstring when he tested it with some hard running in the outfield before Tuesday’s game.

Manager Joe Girardi told Miller, “He did (run) and my guess is he’s not going to be ready on Thursday night. He’s still got some hurdles to cross and he’s just not by them yet. He really hasn’t had a setback. We were hoping for 15 days. It’s probably going to be a few more than that.”

The good news is Girardi did express confidence that Rodriguez would be able to rejoin the team sometime during this weekend’s Oakland series. On the other hand, when you are dealing with a 40-year-old player with a history of lower-body issues, there is no real way to tell how quickly the injury will resolve. Another factor to consider is that the longer the problem persists, the more likely it is that A-Rod will need a minor league rehab stint to shake off any rust.

If Alex is out for longer than expected, the team has no shortage of intriguing internal options to replace him thanks to their upper-level minor league depth. Aaron Hicks has played well while receiving the bulk of A-Rod’s playing time thus far. Gary Sanchez and Ben Gamel have both made brief cameos already as well and are deserving of a longer look. The team also needs to find a way to get the recently promoted Rob Refsnyder’s bat into the lineup.

For now, the plan is to give Rodriguez another day or two of rest than test it again. If it responds well, he could be in the lineup as soon as Friday against Sonny Gray and the rest of the A’s.

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