HOWIE RUMBERG, AP Sports Writer

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Rodriguez may soon be talking to federal authorities, and he hopes it will happen close to spring training.

Lawyers for the Yankees slugger are setting up an interview as part of an investigation into a Canadian doctor who is the focus of a cross-border drug smuggling case involving human growth hormone.

Rodriguez said the site is under discussion but he would like it to be near the team complex in Tampa rather than in Buffalo, N.Y., where the U.S. investigation is being conducted. He expects to soon know the interview date.

"The idea is to schedule something that allows me to cooperate and also get my work in," Rodriguez said Wednesday. "Obviously doing it here would be fantastic."

Rodriguez would not indicate if he pressed his lawyers to lock in a date, but he said they have been working on it for "maybe a few days. I don't know."

Kathleen Mehltretter, acting U.S.