"He hasn't played in a year; that's not easy to do, to sit out a year," Girardi told reporters during a conference call on Monday. "I've got to see where he's physically at, I've got to see from a playing standpoint where he's at. Do we expect him to be a player on our team? Absolutely. Do we expect him to play third base? Yes. But in fairness, I think you have to see where he's at."

That was the comment made by New York Yankees' manager Joe Girardi regarding Alex Rodriguez playing next season at the third base position. The main concern is if Rodriguez's body will hold up during the long and rough 162-game season. The 39-year-old, who's suspension ends after the World Series, has been communicating with Girardi all season long.

The veteran All-Star has played 44 games in the past two seasons. He has never played for the full season of baseball since back in 2007 and has struggled in the last few seasons. 

"We've got to see where he's at," Girardi said, via the New York Daily News. "I believe he's going to be 40 next summer and we've got to see where he's physically at. If he can play the field, how many days he can play the field, how many days he needs to DH. I don't think really any of us know about him until we actually get him into games in spring training."

Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman recently addressed the suspension of Rodriguez last season and approached how the situation will affect Rodriguez and the team going forward. 

"I just approached it as, like any player, I've got questions I need answered here on what's best going next and I needed the player to be involved in the process," Cashman said. "So we had a good conversation on that end. I would term it 'good.' I didn't rehash anything from the past. It is not productive to do so. He's been suspended. He served his time. It gets completed by tomorrow. Then he will be reintroduced obviously with you guys [the media] and our personnel."

"One thing about Alex, he has always been a hard worker," Cashman said. "It is nothing you ever have to worry about with Alex."