Missing A-Rod Already

I know, I know, he's going to play through it. He's going to gut it out. They're going to use rest, relaxation and cortisone to get him through the regular season with a bum hip. At least that's what the Yankees will tell you. What they won't tell you is that they're probably sacrificing July through November for the sake of April through June.  Continue Reading

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Why would they do that? I mean, it seems pretty darn risky to play with fire now, when you could put A-Rod under the knife tomorrow and be fairly certain he'd be back playing before the trade deadline. Every day he takes the field, the Yanks are officially moving that 4-month window closer to the post season. The point of no return is probably around June 1st. If Alex Rodriguez hasn't had the surgery he needs by then, he's either going to make it through the rest of the season or he's going to miss the playoffs, if the Yanks get there.

This dilemma has been bouncing around my mind since I heard the news. I've been trying to figure out why the Yanks would play fast and loose with their $300M investment. I came up with a few reasons, let me run them by you:

1. They really don't think this injury will hamper A-Rod this season. He apparently played with it toward the end of last season, and played well, so why not roll the dice.
2. After spending nearly half a billion dollars on their team this offseason, and nearly a billion on their brand spanking new stadium over the past couple of years, Alex Rodriguez is sure as hell going to be on the field for that home opener. Come hell or high water.
3. The Yanks figure if they're better off if they get A-Rod on the field for April, May and June. Those are his most-productive months anyway.

Number three is a joke, sort of. Honestly, I think this decision is all about number 2. Number 1 is just what the front office is trying to convince themselves, and the fans, is the case.

The reason is irrelevant. If you're a Yankee fan, it's time to prepare yourself for life without A-Rod. I firmly believe he won't make it through the season healthy, and without him in the lineup, this team is going to have a very, very hard time scoring runs.

Think back to 2008. What was the biggest problem for the Yanks? It wasn't the pitching, not by a long stretch. It was the offense's inability to score runs. They thought they had addressed the problem with the addition of Mark Teixeira, who basically will take Bobby Abreu's at bats. Another boost would be the return of Jorge Posada to the lineup. Both of those guys will definitely help. Throw a healthier Hideki Matsui into the mix, and heck, assume some combination of Brett Gardner and the 2009 Melky Cabrera will out-perform the black hole of offense center field was last year for the Bombers. None of that makes up for the loss of A-Rod.

Steroids, Madonna, Jose Reyes man-love, Man-ish strippers in Toronto hotels ... through all the annoying distractions, there was always one thing we could count on from A-Rod. Ungodly offensive production. It's not going to take long to miss what he did for this team on a daily basis.

Keep your fingers crossed, Yankee fans. The front office is rolling the dice with this season. Let's hope they don't crap out.

Brian covers the Yankees on In Mo We Trust.