Alex Rodriguez waits for hip surgery date as Yankees power down

With slugger Alex Rodriguez still waiting for the go-ahead to have surgery on his hip, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman has made some candid statements about his club's power. And how it lacks.

The Yankees led the majors in home runs and finished second in runs scored in 2012, but the possibility of being that strong again in either category seems low with A-Rod in limbo and Cashman not about to replace other departed power sources. Nick Swisher, Russell Martin and Raul Ibañez all departed via free agency. That's 64 home runs replaced with the likes of Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Gardner and a light-hitting catcher to be decided. And it doesn't factor the lost power of A-Rod, though Kevin Youkilis probably can be counted on for 15-20 deeps.

Deal with it, Cashman says. He is. Via the New York Post:

I've seen these people around, those who think home runs are bad, and that teams "rely" on them too much. These are the same people who swear by the sacrifice bunt, and drone on and on about team speed. Team speed, for crying out loud! As Earl Weaver would say, "Get them big [expletive] that can hit the [expletive] ball out of the ballpark and you can't make any [expletive] mistakes." A winning formula if there ever was one.

As for A-Rod, the news that he still hasn't been scheduled for surgery isn't too surprising, based on what we heard earlier in the offseason.

His hip needs to be properly "pre-conditioned" so post-surgical rehab can be more effective, we have been told. It's just, the longer he goes without having surgery, the more likely the Yankees won't have him at all in 2013. Actually, the Youkilis signing was a pretty good indicator that they think no A-Rod in '13 is possible. Maybe even strongly so. But these are the Yankees. Surely there are other moves to make!

Cashman went on to add that: “You play in a certain sandbox and that sandbox isn’t producing a lot of choices right now for power guys," shorthand for "there's little available we can afford to add right now." With most of the free agents signed (Scott Hairston is a possibility, if that gets you pumped), and the prospect of adding someone like Justin Upton being more pipe dream that possibility, this is who the Yankees are. They'll just have to score more runs with less power. Cashman sounds resigned to it. And I'll bet a lot of you feel sorry for them, too.

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