A-Rod ready for next rehab phase

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) " Alex Rodriguez is expected to resume baseball activities Monday, a little more than a month after undergoing hip surgery.

The third baseman has been working out in Vail, Colo., since the March 9 operation. The Yankees start a three-game series Monday at the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the three-time AL MVP will resume swinging a bat.

Girardi said Friday that Rodriguez has been swinging a broom for the past few weeks and slowly increasing his workload. Girardi doesn't expect Rodriguez to return to the Yankees before mid-May.

"In my mind, I'm still thinking May 15 " five weeks away. That's my thought process," Girardi said before the Yankees helped Kansas City open renovated Kauffman Stadium on Friday.

With the Yankees playing at Tampa Bay next week, Girardi said it was uncertain whether Rodriguez's initial workouts would be at New York's minor league complex or Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

"We expect him to be there on Monday and doing all baseball stuff, hitting, throwing, running, just continuing his rehab. So far it's went very well and you just hope there's no setbacks and he continues to progress," Girardi said.

In Colorado, Rodriguez has also been lifting weights, riding a stationary bike, working out in a pool and performing range of motion drills.

"I believe he's swung a broom handle, which is much different than a bat," Girardi said. "I talked to him through a text just a couple of days ago. He's excited," Girardi said.

While swinging the broom handle, Girardi said, Rodriguez has been "hitting something. I'm not exactly sure what it was."