Cashman contacts A-Rod regarding his return in '15
Suspension over at end of season, Yankees infielder has passed physical
BOSTON -- Alex Rodriguez's suspension is set to expire at the conclusion of the regular season, and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Saturday that the organization has started speaking with Rodriguez about how he would return to the lineup in 2015.
Cashman said that Rodriguez is performing twice-daily workouts, both in Miami and Los Angeles, but said that he would not be interested in playing in a winter league to prepare for next season.
"He's going to plan on working with our staff in Tampa at some point this winter," Cashman said. "He looks forward to reintroducing himself in a positive way for us going forward."
Cashman said that he does not know what to expect, production-wise, from Rodriguez in 2015 because of his "unique circumstance." The Yankees will dispatch strength and conditioning coach Matt Krause to assess Rodriguez's health in the near future, but Rodriguez already has taken a physical for insurance purposes.
"He passed a physical," Cashman said. "He's a go, physically fit to compete, now it's about getting him back into shape so he's a quality player."
Cashman said that the main reason he reached out to Rodriguez about 10 days ago was to gauge his willingness to play in winter ball, which would have made further paperwork necessary. Since then, they have remained in some level of contact.
"The main thing I needed to do was know how much time I was going to invest with our insurance companies to find out if winter ball was an option," Cashman said. "I needed to find out the coverage on that aspect of it.
"I don't have to waste my time on that because winter ball's not an option. He's obviously going to continue his workouts and be worked out by our personnel, both strength and conditioning as well as our field staff, as we prepare for Spring Training."
Cashman said that Rodriguez and the Yankees have had professional interactions in recent weeks and are trying to focus on the future. Rodriguez is owed $61 million by the club over the next three seasons.
"The process we went through, it wasn't a healthy process for anybody involved," Cashman said. "But the process had finality and now it's about moving forward. Simple as that."