Hip Cyst to Sideline Alex Rodriguez until May

It all started with hip tightness and discomfort. It appears to have ended with surgery that will cause the Yankees best hitter to miss the first ten weeks of the season.

A-Rod’s nightmare offseason continues, as he can no longer silence his critics with an explosive April home run output.

Baseball provided Rodriguez with his only safe-haven, as all of the chaos surrounding him disappeared once he stepped between the foul lines.

Forced to be without the superstar that the Bronx loves to hate, the Yankees will scurry to acquire some semblance of a replacement.

Mark Teixeira’s tendency to start seasons off slowly will only magnify the problem. The uncertainties surrounding Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui’s health turns the lineup into one enormous question mark.

Buster Olney of ESPN has speculated that Milwaukee’s Bill Hall could represent the kind of contingency plan that Brian Cashman turns to for the next ten weeks.

With all of the outfield depth that the Yankees employ, it seems easy to trade for a stopgap infielder with adequate defensive skills and legitimate power.

One thing is for sure, the New York Yankees will not allow Cody Ransom or Angel Berroa to play every day.

They saw what happened when they tried a similar method after A-Rod’s injury early last season.

The Yankees went 6-11 without him over an extended stretch, and dug a hole that they were never able to climb out of.

This will be the truest test of the effectiveness of the rebuilt Yankee pitching staff. It will be up to them to keep Boston and Tampa Bay within reach until A-Rod’s return.