A-Rod has surgery, out 6-9 weeks
Well, it wasn’t the end of the world for the New York Yankees, but they won’t have Alex Rodriguez for 6-9 weeks after the MVP candidate underwent “successful” surgery on Monday on his hip.
What should be scary to the Yankees is that A-Rod will need further, more major surgery after the regular season (assuming he makes it through), although the doctor who will handle that as well says he expects A-Rod to then be fully recovered again in time for 2010 spring training.
Dr. Marc Philippon said he’s confident in the “85-90 percent range” that Rodriguez will be able to play through the rest of the season. Rodriguez has a torn labrum and a cyst in his right hip. This operation did not completely correct the hip. More aggressive surgery would have sidelined Rodriguez three to four months. In doing it this way Philippon said he is not repairing the entire area.
Rodriguez will continue working on muscle exercises using small resistance for the rest of the week, and by Sunday, he could begin handling a bat.
“There is no doubt in our minds that this was the best option for Alex and for the Yankees,” Philippon said.
The Yankees play 23 games in April, meaning it’s expected that A-Rod will miss about 1/7th of the season.
“The one thing about Alex, we know he’s going to work and work and work,” Yankee skipper Joe Girardi said after the operation Monday. “It might be a case where you have to hold him back a little bit, because he’s going to be anxious to get back.”
Former Yankee Bernie Williams, who is hoping to land a job back in the majors, thinks the time away might actually benefit A-Rod.
“As hard as this may sound, it might be a blessing in disguise because it might give him an opportunity to get away from all this craziness and give him an opportunity to heal and dissipate the whole distraction,” Williams said Friday. “I think it might be good for the team, too. He’ll have an opportunity to heal his body and I think probably mentally and spiritually get himself in the right frame of mind to come back and play the game.”
Cody Ransom remains the most likely option to replace A-Rod at third. He’s a 33-year-old with just 183 big-league at-bats since he broke into the majors in 2001.
“I don’t think you can replace him,” Ransom said. “I don’t think there’s anybody in the game that can do what he can do. As a team, we can pick up the slack and play well while he’s out, and when we get him back, he’ll mean that much more for.”
New York’s odds on WagerWeb.com have gone down slightly in terms of winning the American League (+180) and to win the AL East (-110).
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