AL East Notes: Yankees, Rodriguez, Orioles

Despite their public declarations of support, the Yankees desperately hope Alex Rodriguez's hip injury forces him into retirement, writes Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.  If A-Rod has to step away from the game due to his troublesome hip, that could allow them to use insurance to recoup a portion of the $100MM-plus remaining on his deal.  However, it's not just one insurance policy they'd seek to use, it's more than a dozen that combined could cover up to 80% of his remaining salary, sources say.  That means that the Yanks will have multiple companies looking into the third baseman's issues before agreeing to pay up on the policies. Here's more from the AL East..

• Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com has a similar take on the Yankees and A-Rod as he believes that the club is hoping for the 38-year-old to hang it up.  While it's possible that Rodriguez could return to the Yanks lineup and make an impact, the odds are against him as he is trying to recover from a second hip reconstruction with a drug investigation hanging over his head.
• Orioles pitcher Troy Patton faced his former team, the Astros, earlier tonight.  Alyson Footer of MLB.com (via Twitter) notes that Patton was once considered "untouchable" by Houston, along with Hunter Pence. 
• There are probably only a few big name pitchers that the Orioles could be interested in trading for, opines Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com.  Ultimately, a deadline deal involving the O's is possible, but it’s not probable.