NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez has angered the New York Yankees front office by tweeting information about his comeback from a long-term hip injury.
The star third baseman tweeted Tuesday that his surgeon has cleared him to play in rehabilitation games, a move that angered Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, according to ESPN.com.
"You know what, when the Yankees want to announce something, (we will)," Cashman told the website.
"Alex should just shut ... up," the GM said, punctuating his comment with a profanity.
Cashman added that he planned to get in touch with Rodriguez right away.
The general manager did not respond to calls from The Associated Press.
Rodriguez had left hip surgery on Jan. 16 and has been working out since May at the Yankees' complex in Florida. The three-time AL MVP took swings in a simulated-game situation for the first time on Monday.
On Tuesday, he posted a message on Twitter: "Visit from Dr. Kelly over the weekend, who gave me the best news – the green light to play games again!" Rodriguez also posted a photo of himself and Dr. Brian Kelly, who performed the operation in New York.
Cashman recently said Yankees doctors have not yet cleared A-Rod for minor league rehab games.
"I don't tweet, and I really don't follow Twitter. So I probably don't really know much of what is going on. As far as I know he has not been cleared," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Tuesday night after his team's 4-3 victory over Texas.
"There's always a chain of command with injuries. There has to be and that's the process. It goes through our training staff, our doctors and our GM and then it goes to me. I'm down on the totem pole."