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Yankees’ Rodriguez Cleared to Begin Playing in Minors

Alex Rodriguez has been working out at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Florida.Credit...Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — The simulated at-bats, the sliding drills and the controlled segment of Alex Rodriguez’s recovery from hip surgery have come to an end. Nearly a week after the furor over whether Rodriguez was given official clearance to play in games subsided, the word finally came down Monday.

On Tuesday night in Charleston, S.C., Rodriguez will play in a baseball game for the first time since Oct. 18, so beginning one of the most hotly debated and intensely anticipated minor league rehabilitation assignments.

The Yankees — not Rodriguez — announced Monday afternoon that the injured third baseman has at last been cleared to play in minor league games. He is scheduled to start at third base for the Class A Charleston RiverDogs and play at least three innings.

“That’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said, adding: “He must be feeling pretty good and moving well. We’ll see how it goes.”

Since the day the Yankees revealed that Rodriguez would need surgery, they have expected him back sometime after the All-Star break, and that remains the target. If nothing goes wrong, Rodriguez could conceivably return to play for the Yankees on July 19 when they face the Red Sox in Boston. Or, it could come July 22 when they visit the Texas Rangers, less than a week before his 38th birthday.

Rodriguez could soon be followed by Derek Jeter, who is recovering from a broken left ankle. Jeter ran the bases Monday in Tampa, Fla., and Girardi has called that the final step before he, too, starts playing in minor league games.

Minor league rehabilitation assignments last a maximum of 20 days, after which the Yankees must recall Rodriguez, or put him back on the disabled list. Placing him back on the D.L. would have ramifications on Rodriguez’s long-term viability and the Yankees’ insurance policy on his contract should he be forced into a medical retirement. He is also being investigated for involvement with an anti-aging clinic in South Florida that has been accused of dispensing performance-enhancing drugs to baseball players.

But in the short term, the Yankees desperately need Rodriguez. Their offense is among the worst in the American League, and they have a shortage of threatening right-handed hitters. Lately, their diminished lineup has spiraled downward at an alarming rate, and the few legitimate hitters — Robinson Cano, for instance — could use the protection Rodriguez might be able to provide.

“We want him back,” Cano said. “As a player, when you love this game all you want is to be able to play this game and not be hurt for a long time.”

Rodriguez last played in Game 4 of the A.L. Championship Series, in Detroit, the final game of a postseason in which he was 3 for 25, was pinch-hit for and was later asked to come off the bench in a humiliating sequence of games for him. Two months later, the Yankees announced he would have surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip.

Rodriguez had surgery in January in New York and has been rehabilitating, first in New York and then in Tampa, for the last five months. Last Tuesday, he wrote prematurely on Twitter that he had been cleared to play in games. That angered General Manager Brian Cashman, who said in a fiery interview with ESPNNewYork.com that Rodriguez had not been cleared, and that he should shut up.

Rodriguez has not posted on Twitter since then, but his public-relations firm issued a statement on his behalf Monday.

“Had another good workout today and feel great and I’m excited to get back on the field tomorrow,” it said.

In recent weeks, Rodriguez had grown eager to play in real games but was restricted to simulated at-bats against Yankee minor league pitchers in Tampa, while the Yankees waited to make certain he was healthy. Now, they hope he can come back strong, just as he did in 2009 after surgery on his right hip.

“I expect him to be a productive player,” Girardi said. “The last time he got his hip fixed, he came back productive and hopefully, this will solve some of the things that he was dealing with last year. I expect him to be productive now. I can’t tell you exactly what he’s going to do, but I think he’s going to be a good player.”

Brett Gardner, who is from Holly Hills, S.C., just northwest of Charleston, said Monday that he was planning to text Rodriguez to offer some advice about restaurants and places to visit there.

“I know he has people and he’s going to be very busy,” Gardner said. “but if he needs anything, I can help him.”

If all goes well, in 20 days or less, Rodriguez will be the one helping out.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Rodriguez Gets Team O.K. To Begin Play in the Minors. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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