And all the anti-Alex people begin the drumbeats to bring back Scott Brosius. He's a winner.

Oy, this sucks.

There has to be some minor leaguer, one time prospect, near his 27th or 28th birthday who might be a half-way decent option for 6 weeks. Dallas MacPherson or Scott Moore (the old Cubs prospect, now with the O's I think - not sure on his name) or someone like that.

The one nice thing is that guys in the minors ask for and get their releases all the time in spring training - and the Yanks could always deal a low-level reliever if need be.

To bad Cabrera and Crede signed. I guess we are going to get another taste of what the offense is like without Arod. Hopefully Tex can pick up the slack. The Yankees still have enough to get by without Alex for a month, but then again, in a tight division, his abscence for a month could cost them the division.

I really think A Rod should get some kind of booby prize at this point for his powers of disruption. He's just ... award-winning.

Maybe they can trade for Reyes? Ha!

Celerino Sanchez?
Mike Pagliarulo?
Get Nettles on the phone.

We need Posada's bat at C more than ever now.

I think we're missing the big picture here. I've got A-Rod on my fantasy team, which is now in complete disarray. Let's not lose sight of that.

Thank god Miguel Cairo is already under contract! With the Cardinals!

(I wouldn't take that ten weeks prognosis as incredibly authoritative, though.)

Or the Phillies. Ooops.

[4] Powers of disruption?

How is an injury somehow a part of Arod's powers of disruption?

Did you attribute such a flaw to Matsui? Posada (last year)? Or Giambi?

Though the one Arod hater line I have to use:
How come he didn't postpone the surgery till September or October when we wouldn't have missed his bat???

[10] Yes that's right, I think he got injured on purpose, just like he took steroids with the goal of causing controversy six years later, or made that remark about Reyes to ruffle feathers, or divorced his wife so he could grab some headlines ...

Seriously, the guy is just a nexus of trouble, some of it his fault, some of it not - I don't think he's done any of it to purposely disrupt, but that doesn't detract from him being an incredible distraction. Blame it on whomever you want - the media, the fans, his agent, his cousin, his manager, his teammates - but it's always something. That's not even open to debate.

looks like i picked the wrong season to stop sniffing glue ...

I am to the pont where I think they said, "Here's your cup to pee in, Alex" And Alex said, " Ow, Ow. My cyst." Shite and bollocks!

I just can't believe they knew there was a possible issue last year and didn't look at it. absolutely unbelievable. It's the teams best and most expensive player.

Powers of disruption is pretty silly, yes. This is an injury, not a distraction. But what puzzles me, and it may be Yankee sloppiness again, medical staff, is hearing earlier he had some issues with the hip LAST season. If so, it seems pretty basic to do routine maintenance (so to speak) and have him checked out in November, and operated on in the winter. No?

This may be unfair to him and the team doctors, if the cyst only became visible more recently, but my alarm bells went off when I read about some problems last year.

Cody Ransom at 3rd? He'll pick up the batting slack, for sure. Hmm, is there time to drill Swisher at the hot corner? I doubt it.

The 'thank God Cairo is signed' made me laugh aloud, RIYank.

I wonder if Nady can handle third... Didnt he play there in the minors? (which just might confirm his inability to play there, if he was moved off...)

More realistically, good bye Melky, hello Mike Cameron and another record payroll? I hope that trade can still be pulled off.

Heyman at SI says the timetable is more like 6-8 weeks.

[11] Arod as a distraction?

This meme has really got to die. Seriously. The only ones being distracted are Arod and the fans. I have yet to see any evidence that his team is suffering because he is on the team.

The fans love to hate him. And the media loves to feed that frenzy. But the TEAM is NOT distracted. I just finished the Torre book and despite the volume of text involving him, there was NOT one jot or tittle devoted to a teammate complaining that he hurts their performance. They worried that he was not playing up to par because of his own head. But nothing about his performance affecting Abreu, Damon, Jeter, etc....

And despite Arod distracting himself, he has still managed to play really well and pick up a few MVPs.

And the team has managed to make the playoffs every year until injuries really derailed them last year.

Let's just say I am glad that there weren't so many 24 hour sports channels when Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin were going at it. Those guys distracted each other to a division titles and World Series Championships. But then they also had better starting pitching...

[16] Nady played three days at 3rd with San Diego.

[16] Nady played three days at 3rd with San Diego.

And the Giambi-esque decline begins...

My bad on Swish, even musing ... he's the wrong glove hand for the 3base corner. Sorry.

[11] Yeah, I agree 100%. ARod is a distraction, you hear the rumblings from the players saying that they are tired of answering questions about ARod.

I heard Kim Jones talk about, I've seen Pete Abe write about, I've heard Sweeney Murti on the WFAN say it. You can't correlate ARod's melodrama with the performance output of each player. That's crazy. It's just more a cloud around the team.

Nevertheless, I hope ARod recovers in the time specified, but I am glad I won't be hearing any more from him for a bit. Maybe he can go play poker or something.

Is Hank Blalock available?

To me, the bigger story here is the complete and total incompetence of the Yankees FO and medical staff. Much like the mishandling of Melky's options we found out about this is gross mismanagement. A-Rod is the teams' best position player and one of its most valuable commodities, how he could have "stiffness" last year and the team not have this checked out is beyond me. This surgery should have been done in November.

Will Carroll over on BP has written extensively how much of a difference a top flight medical staff, and a proactive FO can make. While the Red Sox and other teams take advanced approaches to injury prevention, assessment and treatment, the Yankees hire a country club guy as their "strength coach" and allow their best player to miss around a quarter of the season. Same thing happened last year with Jorge's shoulder. As time goes on, I'm more and more appalled at how many of the simple things this team does completely wrong.

On the bright side, Joba was not good today. Double Oy!

[25] Agree. I don't think the Yanks run this stuff worse than average, but come the f on... I'm waiting with baited breath for Cashman's explanation (even though I generally like him)

I wonder if Ray Durham could play third, or if Cano could while ARod is out... Not that we necessarily want to go messing with Cano.

Or just go with Damon in center, Swish in left, and Nady in Right.

How about Ian Kennedy for Blalock (he's a FA after '09, so I'm sure the pitching-poor Rangers would be interested in getting something for Hank). Put Blalock at 3B for 2 months.

If Blalock exceeds expectations, he can share DH duties with Matsui upon A-Rod's return.

Or .... (in my warped reality), Blalock stays at 3b, A-Rod slides to SS and Jeter learns CF quickly.

[27] Could you imagine if this sort of incompetence was allowed in the financial sector...oh wait...

Its just amazing though. These are the sort of things that can be easily improved at minimal cost. How much does it cost to hire a trainer and staff that specializes in baseball and biomechanics? I'm guessing less than Tex is making this year. These sort of things seem minor, but in a division like the AL East anything you can pick up on the margins could be the difference between the playoffs and not. How many games would the team have won last year if Posada's injury was assessed more quickly and we could have made an early move for a better catcher?

The Yankees should be the best organization at everything. They should have the best medical and training staff, the best scouts, the best proprietary software for statistical analysis. How they could not is just beyond me.

I like Cashman too, but come on, he's your best asset. If you're running a NASCAR team and your car sputters a bit finishing a race, do you want two weeks till the next one to look under the hood?

Ransom will play third just like Erick Almonte played SS in 2003 and the Yankees didn't suffer. It's only six weeks of the season that he'll miss, maybe less if Heyman is right.

I'll have a piece on this up at SI.com later today.

I find the Joba thing far more interesting/troublesome as I was worried about him after watching his first start and noting his utter lack of velocity (which no one else has mentioned). That said, Hughes has looked great. This is why you have to be careful about trading your pitching prospects. You just might need them.

[29] No way I trade Kennedy for a 6 week stopgap. Now, as part of a package for a young catcher... (or something)

I'm going to hold out judgment on th A-Rod, the FO and medical staff until I know more, but it doesn't look good for Yankee management.

As for I Don't Know. . . I'd first of all like to see if the Yankees can find an internal replacement. Blalock might come at a high price in trade considering the Yankees are desperate.

Definitely doubleplus ungood.

[31] What Joba thing? Is there an injury report on him? I don't think an inning of reduced velocity in February is a big red flag. He was supposed to start today, so further observation should give us a better read.

My bad on Swish, even musing … he’s the wrong glove hand for the 3base corner. Sorry.

Ah, if Mattingly can do it :)

I suspect that the Yanks will tread water for the time being, see who becomes available during ST. Ot otherwise go with Ransom & maybe Duncan. If they can’t hack it, then they will be moved, and someone else will be given an opportunity. The idea is to have a temp in there until Rodriguez’s 10 weeks are up. Otherwise, an upgrade will be found sometime during the season.

[31] I attributed the velocity bit to reports that they were having Joba only throw at 65 percent or so (or something like that). But today's start is a bit worrisome. I won't get too concerned until we get a bit more of a sample size, but thoughts of a Joba torn shoulder give me nightmares.

[23] Using Pete A. as a source on A-Rod "chemistry" news isn't exactly reliable. He hasn't shown himself to be, um, particularly unbiased on #13.

[33] Agreed...I have no idea how anyone can jump all over the Yankees medical staff without any details. Also, it should be noted that the Yankees did change key members of the medical staff this offseason.

[34] And today he didn't make it out of the first inning

Boswell regards the hot corner as the most difficult of positions. It is one that cannot be filled easily. Ball comes fast. Have to pick the short ones and the hard ones. Play off the line and its a double. Play too close and the hole up the middle gets wider. Damn. To think I will miss him, and he is not really that good a sweeper.

Yankee third sackers during my early lifetime: Snuffy Stimweiss-1946 (name); Billy Johnson and Bobby Brown-1947-51 (Brown went to med school? and became AL Pres.); Gil MacDougal, Andy Carey (terrific arm), Moose (5 games in 1954, 2 in 1958), Jerry Coleman, Jerry Lumpe, Bobby Richardson (13 games in 1958/12 in 1959); Hector Lopez-50's and 60's. Clete Boyer comes up in 1960 and gets help from Gil who played 2B and SS. Clete could have been the best I ever saw, at least until Graig, err Craig, no Graig.

Then it gets fuzzy.

At least it's nothing serious like a shoulder or a knee. It's just his hip. It's not as though a hip injury ended a career or two like Bo Jackson's or anything...

: /

Joba: 5 batters faced, 1 hit, 4 walks ...

perhaps he just couldn't find the plate with his fastball, or they told him to work on his off-speed stuff?

(optimist in me)

[40]

A cyst in one's hip should not be compared to vascular necrosis, which, if I remember correctly, was blunt trauma-induced.

Its a cyst .... its not a tear ... its not an aneurysm.

Let's not retire Mr. Rodriguez so soon.

Joba's making me nervous too. I wonder what's going on there it's a small sample size but it's almost as if he's just lost it.

The idea that A Rod isn't a distraction, except when he is to fans and the media, is so ... A Rod.

Andy Marte is out there, isn't he?

(nah .... I don't think we're THAT desperate)

[39] "Then it gets fuzzy."

Do what I do Mick! I periodically defragment my memory. I back it up for those unexpected crashes and dreaded "Fatal Error" blue screens, too...

;)

Can Terrell Owens play third? I hear he's looking for work (he does have good hands).

Speaking of Cowboys cast offs...what about Drew Henson... ;-)

[47] I forgot to add that TO would probably be less of a distraction than Arod... ;-)

[29] Why on earth would Texas trade Blalock for a non-prospect like Kennedy.

[43] It's not just the cyst, but the possibility of a related injury and/or what they have to cut through to get to the cyst. Stephania Bell on ESPN is suggesting that A-Rod could have an associated labral tear and could be lost for most of the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3954149&name=bell_stephania&dsds

[47]

Drew Henson ... LOL

I'm with Cliff even though throwing out trade names is kind of what the banter is for in March. It would be really silly to trade for a serious name to play for 40 games and then ... what? And if Jorge is not catching, he's part of the DH clutter, big time, so someone like Blalock makes too little sense.

[39] Mick, you (and the Great Boswell) are right ... the corner is hard to play. A memory of how hard A Rod worked to make that switch comes to me. Ray Durham has never played 3rd base. Grudzielanek hasn't since 1995 and these guys are way up there in years.

Everyone needs to buy a Cody Ransom t-shirt, hope Jorge's all right, and pray for pitching and a quick recovery. Alex, the 4-6 week thing you saw on si is countered by a quasi-medical comment on espn that if the cyst is related to deeper muscular issues, as it can be, it may well be longer than 10 weeks.

We'll know on this, at least the diagnosis, soon enough.

Is there an irony here? No one likes Alex Rodriguez, but we calmly inked him at 40 hrs/120rbis/.300 with a lot of walks, some sbs, and solid defense. 'Liking' someone starts to matter less today, doesn't it?

[49]

If Texas felt that Blalock would be leaving after '09, and some team was willing to give them a useful part for his services this season, I think they'd consider it.

I think Blalock's trade value would be pretty low now, given his injury history. A Yankee pitching prospect (OK, maybe not IPK ... but someone of his ilk) might be enough, and then the Rangers can slide one of their excess outfielders into Blalock's DH slot.

[49] That is, of course, purely speculative, based on the fact that the reported recovery time seems long to her. Of course, the reported recovery time was reported by A-Rod's brother, and Heyman had a shorter duration, and combined with the relative lack of pain reported, I would be very very surprised if that were the case...

I'll take Will Carroll's word on this over Ms. Bell's.

(Will hasn't posted anything on this yet)

[43] Are you sure?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3954149&name=bell_stephania&dsds

I know that Stphania Bell is press and everything is a potential story, but isn't she a health professional? She just might know what she's talking about. Or, she's being sensationalistic.

The Tigers do have a no longer a prospect, Mike Hessman, who's decent with a glove and a good hitter at AAA. He turns 31 today. Might be cheaper to get him than Blalock. I doubt Hessman would hit all that well in the majors, but I don't think he'd be a real negative. Plus the Tigers' farm system isn't good, they'd probably take a guy below the caliber of IPK (who's stock has fallen in my eyes).

What sort of injury did Albert Belle have way back when?

Boras says it's a torn labrum.

Gammons is reporting that Blalock himself isn't healthy enough to play third base at the moment.

[58]

degenerative osteoarthritis of the hip ...

(OK .... maybe it IS time to worry about A-Rod's future .... my apologies)

[54] Quite frankly, Bell has much more expertise than Carroll (I've never understood the level of credibility he is given beyond his unique way of using data to assign risk). Having said that, Bell is not going off of facts of this case, just giving an overview, which she makes very clear.

[59]

A-Rod .... meet Chase Utley.

(sigh)

[56] She doesn't seem sensationalistic to me. She basically says that a cyst could be caused by a more underlying issue with the labrum, but that we won't know until we hear from his doctors or even till after the surgery. Considering I had a doctor tell me something similar in regards to a knee injury that ended up being an ACL tear, it seems typical. Now here is why I'm pissed at the Yankees FO/medical staff, from Bell's article:

In the presence of a soft-tissue cyst, the patient may experience pain, but more often than not, the primary symptoms are weakness, stiffness and/or tightness as a consequence of the muscles' not functioning properly. According to ESPN, Yankees manager Joe Girardi indicated that Rodriguez, who has been bothered by the hip somewhat since last year, "expressed a little stiffness. There was really no pain." Newsday reported that Rodriguez told the Yankees that the hip was limiting his bat motion and affecting his power. This combination of symptoms certainly hints at a weakness in the hip muscles that would affect his performance at the plate.

------------------end her quote----------------------------

Why is there no one on the Yankees staff that knows this? This cyst/labral issue is apparently a typical injury among power hitters, if it presents as stiffness/weakness (that affects bat motion) with little pain, and Alex tells you that is *exactly* what he feels, shouldn't you immediately tell him to get examined, or at least at the end of the season?

[62]

OK .... I'll grant you that Bell does put in the caveats of not knowing the exact diagnosis. I was more concerned that people were leaping to "its a tear" from "its a cyst" ... they CAN be mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, in this case (if Boras is correct), they're not exclusive. Which makes me wonder ... why didn't they just say labrum tear in the first place .... were they waiting for further test results ... were they playing coy with the news?
=======================

So ... A-Rod might have been walking around with a torn labrum since last season? Wow.

[61] I've got a touch of that myself. Funny thing is, I was able to do a full Aikido weapons seminar this past weekend (4 hrs. Sat, 2 on Sunday). But then I had to leave the mat on Tuesday because I just couldn't move right. Fraking sucks. It'll be interesting to hear more about Alex's hip.

I'm assuming they're doing arthroscopic surgery?

A doctor on with Kay says a torn labrum has a much better prognosis than a cyst...8-10 weeks.

[65] Where did he say that? I (think) that often times a labral tear is harder to visualize than the cyst itself. It could be one of those cases where they aren't quite sure until they get in there. Again, hate to bring up my own experience again, but I had a torn MCL/cartilage but there was too much fluid to visualize the ACL on the MRI so they basically were optimistic it was ok. Turned out not to be the case for me, I hope it is for Alex.

well, Alex certainly isn't getting the 21 stolen bases he needed for the 300-300 club this season. damnit!

definitely "doubleplus ungood"!!!

can't believe there haven't been any Madonna/hip comments yet. BBTN on in 3 minutes about this situation...

Baseball Tonight is on ESPN at 3:30 EST

[57] Great idea, rbj! That's the kind of guy the Yanks should go for - he'll cost less than Blalock, and could easily do as well (or even better). The trick is to stay above replacement level - particularly if, heaven forbid, Molina is catching regularly for any reason.

[66]

Surprising that we don't hear of more players with hip labrum issues, given the swiveling and power shift that goes on in swinging the bat, the trauma inflicted by diving for grounders, sliding into bases, or merely the repetition of bending over to field grounders (3Bs historically have bad backs, not bad hips).

It just occurred to me, the extent of the awesomeness of this injury, vis a vis A Rod being A Rod, so to speak: Here we have the chance to experience him in all his glory, unmitigated by the activity of actually playing baseball. I am looking forward to what he can come up with during his time off. This may be tricky, but I think like in 2007 on the field, A Rod is operating at an extremely high level off the field right now. I am expecting something amazing ... maybe involving space aliens?

On the bright side, Kei Igawa was lights-out today (3IP, 1H, 0BB, 2K).

Offensively, however, the Yanks are being 2-hit through 6-2/3 innings by Jesse Crain and 4 guys who have a total of 8 ML innings among them.

And if Posada can't catch, we have an everyday lineup with Molina and Ransom in it? That's gonna kill us. The pitching staff better pitch shutout after shutout. Tampa Bay, welcome to the wildcard!

[74] And Joba stunk, so this must be opposite day.

Via Pete Abe:

Yankees GM Brian Cashman just said Alex Rodriguez has a torn hip labrum and cyst.

They’re trying rest and rehab. The cyst was drained. The hope is he’ll keep playing.

More to come.

========================================

Oh man, this has shades of Jorge last year written all over it. I can't wait for weeks of A-Rod being a bit "sore" and ready to go tomorrow!

ARod's hip meet Bo Jackson's hip, Bo knows ARod.

This is Kei Igawa's second good outing, I don't want to go there. The world is simply upside down

[77]

Is it possible to rehab a torn hip labrum .... no surgery?

I mean, Alex doesn't swing as violently as Winfield or Sheffield, but still .... one awkward swing and .... goodbye season.

Get the surgery done NOW.

OK, there needs to be a new rule. Full MRI at the end of the season, every season, for all Yankee players. Then fix what needs fixing.

[80] Come on, this is the Yankees, its much better to waffle for a few weeks, have his effectiveness degenerate and then decide to have the surgery when its far too late for him to come back and contribute.

Cash says they will try to rehab it first.

[78]

Once again, I don't believe avascular necrosis is the same as a torn labrum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avascular_necrosis

[81] The Yankees aren't the only team. I'm still galled by the way the Mets are handling Santana. I don't care if his last BP went well, if he stubs a toe he should have an MRI and exam. Sheesh.

Rest and rehab? Is this FO putting in their 2 cents? Doing the what can we do to avoid surgery approach.

[85]

And you'd think they could afford to have MRI machines in their own ballparks, rather than subjecting him to a flight back to NY.

Apparently you CAN rehab a hip labrum tear without surgery

http://tinyurl.com/8q6c77

Why do I feel like the Yanks are slowly turning into the Knicks of the last 10 years?

Seriously, this is like the Allan Houston injury....huge contract, key player and devastating injury. Who is going to be Ewing: Jeter, Mo, Posada?

[87] That might be more about having him examined by a specific specialist than the machine. Just guessing.

[88] TinyURL is down. With the new HTML-sensitive comment system, you shouldn't need it.

[89] I agree about the comparison to the knicks. Looks like the Yankees are running a business more than a team focused on winning championships. Instead they seem focused on getting fannies in the $2500 seats.

However I disagree with your Ewing comparisons. Mo, Jeter and Jorge all won championships. ;)

Personally this reeks like a ploy to sell tickets in the new stadium. If Arod had surgery NOW it would decrease demand for those expensive seats. If he has surgery in April most of those tickets will have been sold.

Trying rest & rehab seems like a smart enough move if the surgery would have him out 4 months - as PeteAbe reports it would. FAK!

Apparently it's a 'large' cyst. I just can't believe this shit goes on; ~$250M asset, and when Kevin Long notices ARod is favoring his hip there are no tests or exams done, even in the off season! Inconceivable! (In best Princess Bride impression...)

[88] Not this one:

UPDATE, 4:07 p.m.: Cashman just said A-Rod will need the surgery at some point. The tear won’t just heal.

They’re hoping he can get through the season then have it. So this could be an issue all year.

Honestly, I think this is the season. I don't think this offense can absorb both Gardner and Ransom for six weeks.

[95] Not to mention a healthy dose of Molina, depending on how much Posada can actually catch.

Well, reading carefully, what little we have, it isn't a decision to rest and rehab, it is a decision to wait for the results of having just aspirated the cyst, allowing them a closer look at the status of the torn labrum which caused the cyst. These tears can be dealt with with rehab, and can even be played through, in fact (he probably did it last year).

The Yankees have not made a decision, though. They (and we) need to wait a few days. In addition, on medical issues, the player makes the call. The Yankees could urge surgery or urge rehab, but the injured person chooses his medical care. Yes, a youngster could be pressured, I doubt this particular player could - though he might be inclined to tilt towards trying the solution that would get him back sooner, as Jorge did.

What caught my eye was Cashman's '4 months' if surgery. That would change the equation in terms of filling 3rd base. Alex would be out till the All Star Break, if so. In such a case, not sure if Cody Ransom t-shirts are the answer, after all.

[97] Part of me wants him to have the surgery just so all the "Brosius is a winner!" people can see what this team would be like without A-Rod for half a year.

Four months of Angel Berroa (and it will somehow wind up being Angel Berroa, mark my words) would be the end of me.

[97]

The $275 million question becomes .... does he risk a catastrophic injury if he tries to play through it this season?

I would suppose/hope the Yankees took out a hefty insurance policy on that contract.