Yankees' Derek Jeter Unlikely To Return Until After All-Star Break
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Don't expect the captain back before the All-Star break.
Derek Jeter has played in two rehab games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre -- he went 0-2 on Saturday and singled on Sunday -- but the Yankees don't plan to rush the future Hall of Famer back.
"What's my pat answer? He's ready when he's ready," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I think what you have to do is you have to see how he's moving around, how he's responding physically from playing every day. You have to build him up. He has to be able to play more than five innings once every three days. So I mean we'll go through this week, I'm sure, and we'll make an evaluation."
The 13-time All-Star is slated to play shortstop on Monday night.
"I don't ever put a time limit on it, because I don't think its fair to the player and I don't think it's fair to us," the skipper said. "If you say a player's supposed to be here on this day, and he's not ready to go, then it becomes a whole 'nother story. And that's not what we want. So I'm not saying anything about when he's going to be here or when he's not going to be here. I just don't like to put a date on it."
Though Girardi isn't giving much information away, he probably won't slot Jeter into the Yankees' lineup until July 19 when the Bombers visit the Red Sox in the first game following the break.
Jeter has suffered multiple setbacks already in 2013. And with the Yankees having difficulty consistently scoring runs, the club is remaining conservative and cautious as the five-time World Series champion continues to progress.
"If there's one positive thing in all of this, you do have the four days that we are off, so even if he was ready on those days you can't bring him back anyway," Girardi said. "I don't think you want to run a player out there if he's not ready to play. I think you risk injury doing that, and you have a whole 'nother DL stint and set of circumstances. So it allows players to get the time that they need."
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