Alex Rodriguez injury worse then thought??

Alex Rodriguez doctor spoke on Tuesday and it seems that his injury may be worse then we thought. He still hasn’t had his surgery but will do so soon. The estimated time of recovery puts him back at no earlier then the All Star Break. He most likely won’t see any playing action until at least the end of July or maybe August. 
The extent of the damage to the hip won’t be known until he is on the operating table. The doctor Dr. Kelly said “The big question is, how much cartilage damage is there, and how much unfixable damage is there?” The surgery according to Dr. Kelly is very technically challenging and it will be a two hour surgery. It is an arthroscopic procedure involved making three small incisions in the hip, penetrating three layers of muscle, inserting a camera to assess the damage, implanting an anchor in the top of the hip and reattaching the torn labrum to it, reshaping the femoral head of the hip to provide a greater range of motion and finally repairing as much of the cartilage as possible.

He said they can fix two of the three problems but the cartilage is a permanent injury and they won’t know how extensive the injury is until they are in there. The exam that was done by the doctor revealed some cartilage wear. This isn’t a very encouraging thing for the Yankees. If you are one of those that don’t believe Rodriguez will be viable going forward this certainly helps your case. I personally don’t know what to make of this, I know for sure we won’t be seeing 30 and 100 any longer but is 20 and 80 possible and a 270 average, I would say probably. If this is possible is it enough?? Not for the money they are paying him but as a DH?? It may be and it may have to be as there isn’t much choice, he has five years left and isn’t going anywhere.

New York Yankees @ Detroit Tigers

The linup and pitching for todays game is as follows: 1. Cabrera(cf) 2. Damon(lf) 3. Swisher(1b) 4. Matsui(dh) 5. Nady(rf) 6. Ransom(3b) 7. Molina(c) 8. Berroa(ss) 9. Bernier(2b) Pitching is AJ Burnett making his first start followed by Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, Andrew Brackman and Mark Melancon. This is a great group of pitchers going today and it will be interesting to watch how they fare. Arod is gone for awhile and I expect for sure to see Cody Ransom play 3b everday now, the question now is who will be the utility guy, Ransom was expected to be but now they can carry an extra guy until Arod gets back, so its between Berroa who has been hitting but hasn't looked great in the field, Bernier, Leone who are basically journeyman or do they give it to a younger guy like Ramiro Pena or Eduardo Nunez, this will be interesting to watch. The other option is the Yankees could go out and sign Mark Grudzielanek for cheap to be the backup or to play until arod comes back and then be the backup. I think I would just go with Cody Ransom and see who the backup will be and as long as the pitching is healthy they should be fine until Arod comes back probably by May.

Breaking News: Arod to Have Surgery tomorrow

New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez will have surgery tomorrow in Vail,Colorado. He is having a less invasive surgery done which will keep him out 6-9 weeks and then he can come back be fine and have a second surgery in the offseason to completely fix his problem. He has an impingement which is bone on bone, they will fix the labrum now and then the impingement after the season, that would sideline him 3-4 months. He will stay in Vail for several weeks, so he may be back by late April. I think this was a good decision as he may only miss the first month and the Yankees can cover that and then when he comes back be good to go for the rest of the season. Yankees GM Brian Cashman said he thinks this is the right call based on the information they had gotten.

New York Yankees vs Detroit Tigers

The Yankees finally got another win tonight in Tampa beating Detroit 7-3. CC Sabathia made his debut and gave up 1 unearned run in 2 innings of work. He gave up 2 hits with 2 strikeouts. Alfredo Aceves vying for the long relief spot pitched 2 2/3 innings giving up 0 runs on 1 hit with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Jose Veras pitched 1 inning with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts and Dave Robertson pitched a perfect inning striking out the side. On the offensive side Brett Gardner had a hit, he also made a nice catch in CF. Johnny Damon had a hit and rbi, Nick Swisher had a walk and a rbi. Jorge Posada had a hit, Cody Ransom had a hit and two stellar defensive plays at third base. Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero the 2 top rated prospects in the system each had a hit. Brian Cashman stated that as of right now surgery is not scheduled for Arod but that he is staying in Colorado for the forseable future. I am thinking they are keeping him there for a few more days to let him work out and the Dr. can watch him to see how he responds. I am guessing we should know by the middle of next week for sure if he will play or have the surgery. It looks like the Yankees are trying to get as much information as possible about this and not rush into a decision, I think arod will try and play through it but we will see, Cash has not had any contact with other teams about a trade.

New York Yankees vs Detroit Tigers

The lineup for tonights game is Gardner(cf) Damon(lf) Swisher(1b) Posada(dh) Duncan(rf) Ransom(3b) Molina(c) Berroa(2b) Pena(ss) CC Sabathia is scheduled to throw 35 pitches or about 2 innings. He will followed by Alfredo Aceves, Jose Veras, Steven Jackson, David Robertson and Anthony Claggett. Hal Steinbrenner, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman had a meeting earlier today. Hal said of course everybody is concerned. He said several times there is no new information. The reason Gardner is leading off and not Damon is because Joe G said that is what he will be doing in the season either him or Melky batting ninth. The Yankees seem to have changed their stance a little since yesterday regarding Alex, they said Arod needs to make a decision and basically its up to him and his doctors. He did hit in a cage and was throwing in Colorado today, the sense that Peter Abraham of the Journal News and http://yankees.lhblogs.com is that Alex is going to have the surgery maybe as early as next week, that the Yankees are fearful of him playing and then he hurts it more and has to come out of the lineup and have the surgery. I am guessing we may know by Monday for sure, if he does have surgery they have the month of March which is free basically and maybe he will recover quickly and be back by June but who knows, or maybe he has a high threshold for pain and can make it through the season. I am sure we will be talking about this more in the coming days, I am planning on having an all Arod post maybe as early as tomorrow, since I have a lot of thoughts and I want to get them out there. Meanwhile to tonights game CC is the focus, we will see how Posada does of course and Swish getting some time at first will be good. Cody Ransom will probably be playing third base everyday now and lets see how he does. Shelly Duncan is always fun to keep an eye on as he trys to get back on the 40 man roster.

The Circus is Set for Tomorrow

The Arod press conference or should i say circus will be held outside Steinbrenner Field at 1:30PM tomorrow. The position players started filing in today, Nick Swisher and Big Tex have check in as well as the X-man and Austin Jackson. Jose Molina had eye surgery in October and is not wearing contacts anymore which he is happier about. He said it will help him as a player. He said he is prepared to catch as many games as the Yankees need. "You know me,whatever they want." Jesus Montero was hitting bombs to right center in BP today, I love this kid and think he is going to make a big impact in 2-3 yrs. He is only 20 yrs old and will be in high A this year with a chance at moving up to AA at some point. Right now he is still a catcher, most people think he is going to outgrow the position but we will see.

Ben Sheets Hurt your kidding

Ben Sheets the free agent pitcher that has been out there all offseason and people couldn't figure out why, is having surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. He decided it was better to just get this fixed now and hope to come back in the second half of this season. He had agreed to a 2 yr deal with Texas and this came to light during the physical. Sheets was told he could try and pitch through it but that it would go at anytime. This is being reported by Si.com. It was also noted at si.com that the Yankees had offered Andruw Jones a minor league deal with an invite to spring training but he turned it down. The Ben Sheets story should tame all the fans that were wondering why the Yankees or Mets didn't go after him, now you know why.