A-Rod Reportedly Back in Early May

As the New York Yankees struggle with the almighty Cody Ransom-Ramiro Pena-Angel Berroa trio at third base, Alex Rodriguez has been busting his butt to get back on the field. According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, he's going to get on the major league field earlier than his original May 15 target date.

The "target date" is still May 15, but -- according to Heyman's sources -- both A-Rod and the team are very hopeful he'll be back on the field "sometime in the first week of May." This coming Friday is May 1.

Despite all the negative things that can be said about A-Rod, he's one heck of a baseball player. Last season he missed 24 games and still hit .302 with 35 homers and 103 RBI. If he really comes back in the first week of May, he'll be able to play close to as many games -- assuming injury woes don't prevent it. That's a lot of production to add to a lineup in place of three guys who don't have any business starting for a major league team.