Sunday's news that Alex Rodriguez will have hip surgery and miss six to nine weeks brought a certain relief. It's not relief that A-Rod will be out of the lineup, but relief that there's a set time frame to work with and no more wondering about a plan of attack. The only question that they have to answer is how they're going to replace Rodriguez in the starting lineup.
Right now Brian Cashman is calling Cody Ransom his third baseman. Ransom is a 33-year old with 183 major league at-bats, which reminds you that Cashman once called Bubba Crosby his centerfielder and Nick Swisher his first baseman. Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira let you know that the best laid plans of mice and men can sometimes take a right turn.
If the Yankees knew, unequivocally, that Rodriguez would be back in the lineup on April 15th, Ransom would be a fine solution. But the Yankees can't say that, nor can they say that when he gets back that everything will be peachy keen for the rest of the season. He'll still need a serious operation after the season, which makes crossing your fingers and assuming the best will happen a pretty silly strategy for a business as big as the Yankees.
They've got to prepare for the worst, which means signing someone like Mark Grudzielanek or trading for Mark Teahen of the Royals. Each is a guy with a track record well beyond Ransom's, and each can then move into a useful bench role when Rodriguez comes back to the lineup. You'll see a lot of mention of Erick Almonte as such moves are discussed. Almonte filled in for Derek Jeter over the first six weeks of the 2003 season and the Yankees played just fine. Take a look at the rest of the 2003 Yankee lineup, though, and you won't see many similarities to the 2009 version.
The other thing you'll be hearing a lot about is how A-Rod's absence gives the Yankees a chance to get back to the things that won them four World Series from 1996-2000. Those things being good pitching, which the Yankees should have, and the gritty, intangile winnerness that Rodriguez just lacks in every way, shape and form. Just ask Ian O'Connor of the Bergen Record.
The Yankees could go back to being the Yankees. They could go back to being the team that won four championships in five years with reliable pitching and a harmonious band of position players that didn’t need a slugger whose favorite teammates are Me, Myself and I. ... The reality of the Yankees, the championship Yankees under Torre, centers around pitching and chemistry and a one-for-all, all-for-one ethos.
Those Yankee championship teams are the exact opposite of wine, they've gotten worse with age. Somehow very good teams loaded with standout offensive players have been reduced to a bunch of guys who hit .220 but bunted really well. The numbers don't bare that out, nor does the idea that it was all about team when the Yankees employed guys like David Wells and Roger Clemens. Time has done strange things to people's memories of those teams and the staggering amount of talent they employed.
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Holding hands and having campfires isn't going to help the Yankees win this season. Replacing the largest possible fraction of A-Rod's productivity will help them win, so that's exactly what Cashman needs to do.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
