Report: A-Rod begins medical grievance process against Yankees

Alex Rodriguez alleges that the Yankees mishandled his treatment. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez's lawyers have begun the process of filing a formal grievance against the team for the manner in which they handled his medical treatment since last October's playoffs, ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand reported Sunday.

The report comes one day after one of Rodriguez's lawyers, Joe Tacopina, told the New York Times the team misled Rodriguez about a recent hip injury that delayed the start of his season.

“We have basically had enough,” Tacopina told the Times on Friday. “The process is being perverted when they act the way they do to make their case. They are pushing Alex to his limit.”

He added: “The legacy of George Steinbrenner would be horrified. This is the New York Yankees. This isn’t some thug-culture club.”

Tacopina told the Times that the Yankees hid MRI results from Rodriguez, while continuing to play him last postseason with a torn labrum in his left hip.

According to ESPN New York's Marchand, Rodriguez's defense team also contends that Yankees president Randy Levine told the surgeon who performed offseason surgery on Rodriguez's hip he would be "fine" if Rodriguez never got to play again.

Finally, there is the dispute that kept Rodriguez off the field earlier this season, when Rodriguez said he was healthy enough to play despite what team doctors diagnosed as a Grade 1 quad strain.