MLB

SURGERY HUGE PRICE TO PAY

The baseball operations department of the Yankees, headed by Brian Cashman, made a baseball decision. This was not about egomania gone wild or insecurity on parade or the fact that Alex Rodriguez was controversy’s best friend.

And it was two years before the world would learn A-Rod was a steroid cheat.

No, in the fall of 2007, Cashman’s department recommended that if A-Rod opted out of his contract that the Yankees move on without him because of the implications of re-signing even an elite player for record dollars into his 30s and, gulp, his 40s.

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Cashman had witnessed – and in many cases been responsible – for larding recent Yankees teams with declining veterans who clogged the roster and overinflated the payroll. So his department reasoned that what might feel good today by having Rodriguez around as the cleanup-hitting third baseman would feel miserable sometime in the near future when even A-Rod’s seemingly indestructible body began to deteriorate, turning him into a 19-homer DH or first baseman rather than a run-producing machine.

So while the Yanks figured the next A-Rod storm was due in mid-April when Selena Roberts’ book promises more damaging revelations about Rodriguez’s steroid use and personal life, the storm came early – and perhaps most damaging.

At least more damaging than any foot-in-the-mouth proclamations or performance-enhancing drug disclosures. Because the worst fears of the baseball department may have arrived even earlier than their greatest frets.

For the Yankees, it could already be the Day After Tomorrow.

A-Rod has a torn labrum in his right hip that will require surgery sooner or later. The Yankees have decided they will try to put it off as long as possible, treating it now with rest and exercise.

The injury occurs even before the beginning of Year 2 of a 10-year, $275 million contract – the most expensive in baseball history. It occurs in a year when A-Rod is due to make $32 million, the most any human being has ever been guaranteed for a season. It occurs with Rodriguez contractually tied to the Yankees until 2017, longer than any other player in the majors is contractually tied to his team.

So the Yankees still owe Rodriguez $248 million on this contract and now they find out he’ll someday need hip surgery that could require a four-month recovery.

But what else will it do to Rodriguez? Hip injuries turned Albert Belle and Bo Jackson from freaks of nature into, eventually, ex-baseball players.

Rodriguez is not around for his winning personality or his clubhouse leadership. His self-absorbed antics are barely tolerated because of 40 homers, 120 RBIs. Once he is not producing 40-120, his value to any organization falls worse than the Dow.

And now when surgeons eventually go in to repair the hip, we must wonder what will be removed from his athletic abilities. It is obvious, but a power hitter cannot survive without elite hip rotation.

What’s left of Alex Rodriguez in the aftermath when what is left on his contract would be the most expensive pact ever for anyone else in history?