No one will know just how badly Alex Rodriguez’s left hip is damaged until he goes under the knife today, and the third baseman and the Yankees have an incredible amount riding on the results.
Rodriguez is scheduled to undergo a procedure to repair a torn labrum, a bone impingement and a cyst at the Hospital for Special Surgery, but Dr. Bryan Kelly — who will perform the surgery — told the Post’s Joel Sherman last week he can’t be certain of the hip’s condition until he operates.
The answer figures to go a long way in determining when Rodriguez gets back on the field and what kind of player he will be when he gets there. Rodriguez likely will be out at least until after the All-Star break.
“I hope it goes well,” general manager Brian Cashman said yesterday of the surgery, which is expected to last approximately two hours. “It’s the next step in the process. We can only go by what the doctors tell us and what the facts say.”
Those facts include a second major hip surgery for the 37-year-old Rodriguez, who has five years and $114 million remaining on his contract.
If Rodriguez can’t return to a reasonable facsimile of the player he was, his salary — $28 million in 2013 and $25 million in 2014 — will be especially painful to the Yankees, who are determined to get their payroll under $189 million by 2014.
Cashman, like everyone else, knows what’s at stake.
“We’re praying he has a good surgery, not just for himself but for us,” Cashman said. “But at this point, we just have to see what happens.”
Newly signed Kevin Youkilis will take Rodriguez’s spot at third base.
* Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Boone Logan and David Robertson filed for arbitration yesterday. Salaries will be exchanged tomorrow and hearings held next month if agreements between the two sides aren’t reached.