Alex Rodriguez's 2013 season debut will have to be put on hold. Just days after being optimistic about his health and hopeful for a Monday return on the road against Texas, A-Rod was informed via an MRI on Sunday that he has a Grade 1 left quadriceps strain.
Rodriguez hasn't played yet this season due to undergoing hip surgery for the second time.
Rather than joining the Yankees in Arlington, the Yankees third basemen will fly out to the Yankees spring training facility in Tampa, where he will be sidelined for another seven to 10 days.
"I am extremely disappointed with the results of the MRI and hoping to be back as soon as possible and continue with my goal of coming back and helping the Yankees win a championship," Rodriguez said in a statement released through his public relations firm, according to ESPN.
Rodriguez had been rehabbing with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Yankees in Triple A, and came to the ballpark on Saturday with stiffness in his quad which relegated him to just playing as the team's designated hitter. After it worsened Sunday, which was supposed to be his 20th and final day of rehab, Rodriguez was held out of the lineup and had an MRI back in New York.
Rodriguez, who turns 38 this week, had hoped to be taken off the disabled list at some point during the Yankees series with Texas, which opens up Monday night. While a Grade 1 strain is the least severe, Rodriguez will stay on the disabled list without a timetable for his return.
"He is going to be out for a while so we'll just deal with it and continue to play," Yankees manager Joe Girardi told ESPN. "You never know how quick a guy is going to heal."
The injury comes as more bad news looms for A-Rod as the baseball world holds its breath waiting for the possible suspension of A-Rod and many other players in connection to the biogenesis scandal. There is no word on when the punishments will be revealed, though it is expected that no suspensions will be handed out until 2014.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, the Yankees would have to petition MLB for an additional rehab assignment for Rodriguez.
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