Alex Rodriguez had not made any statements to anybody since the announcement that he will need his second hip surgery in four years until a charity event on Saturday.
Here is what he said:
NOT CONCERNED: “I’m not concerned,” Rodriguez told The Associated Press. “I’m actually, in many ways, relieved that there’s something tangible that we can go fix.”
DEFINITELY GOING TO PLAY: ”I think I’m definitely going to play,” Rodriguez told Erik Boland of Newsday. “We’ve been down this road before. We have a good plan, we have a good team in place and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
RETURN TO 1ST 4 MONTHS OF 2012: “I think the latest sample and most legitimate is how I played the first four months,” Rodriguez said. “I thought my pace was at a pace that was solid and definitely a winning player.” A-Rod hit .276/.357/.449 through July 24.
PLAYOFFS WERE MISERABLE: ”That was quite miserable, to be honest with you,” A-Rod said. “But like I said, we have a tangible issue. A lot of things make a lot of sense. Now I get to fix it and go back and play baseball.”
COULDN’T PUT A FINGER TO IT: “I knew there was something wrong,” he said. “It was very frustrating. Obviously, I wasn’t moving and exploding the way I’m used to…[I told them] I’m just not firing,” A-Rod recalled. “There’s something wrong, I just can’t put my finger on it.”
DON’T COUNT US OUT: ”We’ve seen this movie before,” said A-Rod. “Hopefully it has the same ending as ’09. I remember when I went down, a lot of people counted us out and we had a pretty tough April. But sometime around May, the magic started and it just got better and better and then it was an awesome fall . . . Don’t count us out. We are the New York Yankees.”
YOUKILIS WOULD BE A GOOD MOVE: ”[Kevin Youkilis] has always been a tough out,” Alex Rodriguez told Boland. “He’s a tough player, he’s a guy that’s a winning player. Whatever the franchise wants to do, I think that would be a good move for us.”
