Paging Doctor Stephen Chott, Should Alex Rodriguez Have Surgery?

"Breaking news in SportsCenter, Mark Teixeira is the latest free agent to sign with the New York Yankees for eight years, $180 million. This is the latest of the Yankees moves as they have already signed pitchers CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett"

At this point everyone was thinking about how good the Yankees would be and how they are great contenders after signing Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett. We were immediately put at the top of the favorites and Yankees fans were jumping for joy.

And then the A-Rod news struck. It's old news now that Rodriguez used steroids from 2001-2003 and tested positive in '03 but the new news with him is that Rodriguez has a torn labrum and cyst in his hip. Wow.

Yesterday Rodriguez's brother spoke to the media and addressed the surgery saying that Alex was going to have surgery on it. But then the Yankees released a statement saying they would rather Alex to opt not to have surgery.

So I am here to address the question. Should A-Rod have surgery or not? Let's look at both sides.

First, let's look at if Alex does have the surgery. He will miss around four months, around three months of play. This is a lot of time for the Yankees not to have their best player on the team.

To backup Rodriguez at third base they have Cody Ransom, who played 33 games for the Yankees last year at shortstop, third base, second base, and first. He has played seven career games at third base.

Then there is Angel Berrora, who has lots more of experience starting four years at shortstop in Kansas City and some backup last year in Los Angeles. He has only played one career game at third base though.

So what you're probably thinking, there is sure to be a free agent out there, right? Well you're wrong, because there are no available free agents at third base right now. So that means the Yankees would have to go out and trade for a third baseman if they do not want to use Berrora or Ransom.

Obviously, the Yankees don't have depth at third base, so let's take a look at how they would do taking the no surgery road.

I was looking up some details of a torn labrum because I didn't know much about it and this is what I found. "If the front of the hip joint is affected there may be a pinching sensation when the person flexes the hip by bringing the knee up to the chest. The pain may be reproduced in sport during activities that require weight bearing and twisting."

Now reading this doesn't make me to confident on Rodriguez's performance level being high even if he does play. This line, "The pain may be reproduced in sport during activities that require weight bearing and twisting," is not a good sign.

To swing a bat obviously takes a lot of movement in the hip and this isn't recommended with this injury.

I realize that the trainers probably have many painkillers to deal with this, but still, it will be a major problem for him to play with this pain.

Now as much as I hate to say this A-Rod NEEDS surgery now to help his future. His production will go down without this and I think our Yankees will be able to hang well in the AL East without him while he's gone.

Here is the link where I got the torn labrum info. Thanks for reading and good luck to A-Rod in rehab.