Alex Rodriguez to make rehab stop in Double-A

NEW YORK -- The Yankees have announced that designated hitter Alex Rodriguez will make a rehab stop in Trenton with the Double-A Thunder on Tuesday night.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had originally said that Rodriguez would not go on a minor league rehab because the team did not want to "waste" his at-bats and that he would return to the Yankees' lineup on Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Girardi said the team changed its mind during a conference call with the club's hitting coaches and general manager Brian Cashman. They decided that Rodriguez, out for nearly three weeks, could use the work in the minor leagues first.

"We are allowed to change our minds," Girardi said.

The Yankees have not yet updated when they expect Rodriguez to return to the major league team, although it presumably would be very soon. Since Rodriguez has been on the disabled list with a strained hamstring, the Yankees have played their best baseball of the season, ripping off 13 wins in 19 games. They were 8-16 with Rodriguez on the roster.

Rodriguez is hitting .194 with five homers, 12 RBIs and a .719 OPS in 20 games.

With Rodriguez hurt, Carlos Beltran predominately served as the designated hitter, allowing the Yankees to improve defensively as the younger Aaron Hicks took Beltran's spot in right field.

Girardi said that Rodriguez would return to the full-time DH role.

"You could send him on a rehab for a week and his timing may not ... hitters are harder to predict," Girardi told reporters this past weekend in Oakland. "You go four months without facing a live at-bat and some guys start out on fire in spring training. We could send him on a rehab and he might swing great down there, come up and struggle here. Or maybe not swing well down there and come up and do great here. It's just really hard to predict. We are not going to waste his at-bats in Triple-A."