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Alex Rodriguez says he will be back July 22 for Yankees-Rangers

A-Rod said he will be back Monday for the Yankees-Rangers series. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

A-Rod said he will be back Monday for the Yankees-Rangers series. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Alex Rodriguez said Wednesday on WFAN that he will be back in the Yankees lineup on July 22 when New York begins its series against his former team, the Texas Rangers.

The 14-time All-Star, who said he is "very excited" to be back, has been rehabbing from offseason hip surgery and is expected to join Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday before rejoining the Yankees next week. Earlier in July, it had been reported that A-Rod would face a possible 100-game suspension after the All-Star break for his alleged involvement with performance enhancing drugs.

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Despite his belief that Monday is the day he'll return, the decision will ultimately rest with the Yankees front office, and General Manager Brian Cashman was hesitant to definitively give a timetable for his return; in an ESPN report, Cashman said Wednesday that next week is his hope for when A-Rod will be back, but added that the situation will have to be re-evaluated over the weekend:

"That's the hope. We'll see through the weekend. We started the 20-day rehab and once we felt he could complete the 20 days and be available to us in Texas. So let's get through the weekend and see where he is at and see if he is major league able."

Rodriguez, who turns 38 years old at the end of July, has not appeared in an MLB game since the 2012 postseason when he went 3-for-25 with 12 strikeouts.

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