48 Pablo Sandoval, 3B

Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval will begin a rehab assignment Saturday at high Class A San Jose, the San Francisco Chronicle reports Wednesday. Sandoval could be available to return to the Giants on Monday against Los Angeles. 

Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval could begin a rehab assignment with Class A San Jose Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Sandoval, who last played on June 8, has been dealing with a strained tendon in his left foot. If all goes well with his rehab assignment, he'll likely come off the disabled list early next week.

An X-ray on Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval's injured left foot did indeed show a fracture as reported earlier Tuesday, but it is not the source of the pain that has landed him on the 15-day disabled list.

An MRI confirmed that Sandoval's fracture is actually years old and is not the cause of his DL trip. Sandoval is dealing with a strained peroneal tendon on his foot, and is expected to need the minimum time on the DL.

Sandoval will work on his conditioning while rehabbing, with the goal of dropping a few pounds to lessen the load on his feet when he plays. But manager Bruce Bochy is not ready to say Sandoval's injury was caused by his weight.

"Sure, that's going to be a question a lot of people are going to ask. And that's a hard one to answer," Bochy told MLB.com. "Whether it has played a part in this injury -- when you're a little heavy and something like this happens, I think it's normal to say, 'Well, was this the reason?' I don't think anybody can answer that. Did [Angel] Pagan injure his knee because he's in too good of shape and he doesn't have enough weight? You don't know these things. But it's fair to say that with an injury to the foot, it can become an issue."

Giants manager Bruce Bochy confirmed the nature of third baseman Pablo Sandoval's foot injury Tuesday, telling reporters that Sandoval has a strained tendon in his foot. This is contrary to earlier reports in the day that Sandoval was dealing with a fracture in his foot.

Bochy said the injury may not be related to Sandoval's weight, but the team will push him to lose weight while on the disabled list. Bochy is confident Sandoval can return from the DL shortly after his 15 days are up. 

Shortly after Giants president Larry Baer went on local radio to say that third baseman Pablo Sandoval had a hairline fracture in his foot -- not a strain, as previously believed -- the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman reported that it was, in fact, a strain. The Giants' official Twitter account also reported that Sandoval was headed to the DL with what was officially termed a strain. 

With the conflicting storylines, a timetable for Sandoval's return is unknown but should be clarified in the next couple days. Sandoval is batting .289 with eight home runs and seven doubles over 57 games.