Alex Rodriguez has elected to have arthroscopic surgery on his right hip, which will sideline him for six to nine weeks now, then require further surgery on the hip after the season.

The surgery that he is getting will not fix the underlying problem in his hip, but rather repair the torn labrum, giving him a better opportunity to get back on the field quickly and pain free.

A source close to the situation told The New York Times, “It would be like using a nail instead of a steel girder to repair it. Eventually, the nail would have to be replaced with the steel girder.”

The timetable to return to the field was put at six to nine weeks, but the doctor who diagnosed him said that the recovery should be closer to six weeks than nine. Figuring that he’ll need a few weeks to return to baseball shape after recovering from the surgery, Rodriguez’s return to the Yankees will likely be in early May.

If you listen to Harvey Araton of The New York Times, keeping A-Rod away from the team is just what the Bronx Bombers need right now:

For the Yankees, a vacation from A-Rod may be just what the proverbial doctor ordered. If only temporarily, the face of the team will again belong to Derek Jeter, not Rodriguez, whom we have come to recognize in a variety of poses as the deer caught in the limelight.

Robinson Cano, on the other hand, knows that the Yanks are in big trouble offensively without their cleanup hitter.

“It’s a big loss for us, man. We’re going to have to look for somebody until he gets back.”

“I don’t think we’re going to find anybody like him. He’s an RBI machine, a power hitter. He’s everything.”

“That’s our cleanup hitter. His numbers are unbelievable every year. It’s a tough loss for us.”

Rodriguez has been relatively healthy his whole career, but did miss some time in 2008 with an injury. His 138 games that he played in last year was the least he’d played in since leaving Seattle in 2001.

ESPN.com’s injury hottie Stephania Bell says that full recovery should be reached in 10-16 weeks, still allowing Rodriguez to be on the field for the majority of the season. She also breaks down all of the inane details of the injury and surgery, if you’re into that kind of thing.

I will tell you one thing — A-Rod could not have picked a better time in his career to need hip surgery. All of the steroid attention has turned to injury attention, and any decline in his stats can now be attributed to his hip injury. Honestly, his team of PR people could not have scripted this last month any better for him in the long term.

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