Yankees" Rodriguez Says He Is Healthy Again TAMPA, Fla. - When a player's first spring training news conference sounds more like an Anatomy 101 lecture than an overview of the coming season, it means that either the player is coming off a series of injuries, or he is in his middle 30s. In the case of Alex Rodriguez, it can mean both. The body parts that Rodriguez discussed Saturday after an uncharacteristically poor season included his knee, shoulder, thumb and hip. Rodriguez, who will turn 37 on July 27, spent the off-season recuperating from his injuries and re-evaluating his workout regimens, and he said he came to camp feeling completely healthy and ready to play. "It's definitely been frustrating," he said of the numerous ailments that have raised concerns about his long-term durability. Rodriguez had his worst season in 16 years, with 16 home runs, 21 doubles and 62 runs batted in. But the number that rankled him the most was 99, the games he played. Asked how many games he feels he will be able to play in 2012, he would not offer a specific figure. "I'll tell you the number's not 99," he said, "that's for sure." A torn meniscus in his right knee caused him to miss six weeks in July and August. In his first game back, he sprained his left thumb, limiting him to 18 of the regular season's final 37 games. When he returned, the thumb was never fully healed, and apparently the knee wasn't, either. The six years and $146 million remaining on Rodriguez's contract is a staggering commitment by the Yankees, making his enduring health a major concern. "I know I have to watch him carefully," Manager Joe Girardi said, "because he's really important to this team." Despite the surgery on the knee last summer, Rodriguez decided to go to Germany in the off-season, at the recommendation of the basketball star Kobe Bryant, to have a procedure called Orthokine therapy. It was performed by Dr. Peter Wehling at the Center for Orthopaedics and Molecular Medicine in Düsseldorf. The therapy involves having blood removed from a patient's body, spun in a centrifuge, then reinjected into the affected areas. After Bryant recommended the procedure, Rodriguez checked with the Yankees. The Yankees researched the procedure to make sure it was within baseball's medical and antidoping guidelines. When they approved it, he and his personal trainer flew to Germany. They spent about a week there as Rodriguez received treatments and worked out. Like Bryant, he said, he began to feel noticeably better after the third of five treatments. "If I can play as well as Kobe, we're in business," he said. But having faced so many health problems in the advancing years of his playing career, Rodriguez said he knows he must ratchet down and alter his workouts, both in and out of the season. Rodriguez said that Dr. Marc Philippon, who performed hip surgery on him in 2009, told him at the time that he would have to limit the amount of exercise he does. "I didn't listen to him then," Rodriguez said. I went back to see him this winter and he's very happy with the range of motion and how it looks. He reiterated the importance of less is more. I'm on board now. Now the plan is to do more of what he called corrective exercises, designed to keep him on the field, where he will start at third base and bat fourth, Girardi said. But Girardi also said Rodriguez would see time as the designated hitter, something Rodriguez will do when asked. But he is hoping it will be on a limited basis. "I don't train and prepare to be a D.H.," he said. I'm definitely not a D.H. Rodriguez also said he would hit wherever Girardi put him in the batting order. But while making fun of Joe Torre's decision to bat him eighth in a postseason game, Rodriguez vowed to oppose any changes simply by trying to produce. "With my track record, I haven't been very good at hitting eighth, so I'll try to stay away from that," he said. I'm going to make it as difficult as possible for Joe to take me out of that position.