Alex Rodriguez’s brother, who I’m sure is great friends with his cousin, has been talking to ESPN Deportes. It appears as though A-Rod is to undergo EMERGENCY SURGERY on a cyst.
A cyst that causes no pain, just mild stiffness. A cyst that apparently dates back to last year. A cyst that’s probably not on his hip, but rather somewhere ridiculously close to where his cousin stuck a needle in his ass. Clemens had one of those too…
Rodriguez shat the bed earlier this off-season, as he decided he wasn’t American: he was UN-American, he was Dominican. Maybe A-Rod just wanted to win, you cant fault someone for doing anything possible to win, right?
Americans celebrated as their chances of victory doubled with the departure of Rodriguez. It’s not just that Rodriguez can’t win the big one, it’s that his inability to handle the pressure rubs off on everyone else. Now that Rodriguez’s is out, the Dominican Republic is almost guaranteed success.
Newsday is reporting that the CYST is not related to steroids, because it’s on his hip. To which I say: “Has anyone seeeeen, this cyst?”. Even if it’s on his lower hip, Arod’s proven that he isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Fantasy Take: Average Draft Position.
Rodriguez has been all but set in stone at the 3rd overall pick this spring, and while the steroid news has dropped him — it hasn’t dropped him far.
Now with the news that Rodriguez is going to miss 10 WEEKS, and may not play UNTIL MAY, we’ve got a problem. The MLB Season starts in less than 40 days, which isn’t 10 weeks.
Assuming you have plenty of DL spots, A-Rod’s going to start the year on your DL and miss about a month. How hard this hits you will depend solely on the depth of your league. In a very shallow league, you’ll be able to find a replacement player to fill in for A-Rod that wont kill you.
Thus, Rodriguez only drops a couple spots. I think he falls behind Wright and Reyes, but ahead of guys like Cabrera and Sizemore in shallow leagues.
In deeper leagues, we have a different ball-game though. Drafting A-Rod is going to leave a rather large void in your line-up for a bit. If you can’t fill that void with someone like ….Ty Wigginton, you’re in trouble.
In this case, a Month without Alex Rodriguez should drop him to the damn near end of the first round / early second round. Somewhere around the Holliday, Berkman and Also-Injured Utley.
Realistically, someone’s going to overpay for A-Rod. If he’s playing, he’s still the best third-base option for your fantasy squad. With all of this hooplah, he may just put up career numbers to prove to the world that he can do it without the ‘roids.
Unfortunately, he’s no longer worth your draft pick. Rodriguez could come back early, as a cyst removal really isn’t crazy-intense. The problem is going to be getting back into shape, as the surgery will limit the flexibility in his hip-flexors, lower-back, and probably even his hamstrings.
Finally, I’m disappointed that A-Rod isn’t having the surgery in his HOME-COUNTRY that’s given him so much. Instead he’ll be flying to Colorado, where Kobe will give him a lesson on relationships.
photo: rickyrhodes, flickr.
