Alex Rodriguez needs more hip surgery, out until midseason - MLB

This morning George King of the New York Post wrote that Alex Rodriguez’s surgically repaired right hip remains damaged and now his colleague Joel Sherman reports that Rodriguez “almost certainly needs more hip surgery”–this time on his left hip–and is expected to miss at least part of 2013.

Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports that Rodriguez’s surgery is slated for January, with the delay stemming from the need to build up more strength in his hip before going under the knife. Obviously the fact that he’s expected to miss at least part of the season and yet the surgery is being put off until January suggests it won’t be a speedy recovery process, and according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com it’s a 3-6 month timetable that could knock him out for the entire first half.

Rodriguez hit .272 with 18 homers in 122 games this year while apparently playing through a damaged hip, posting career-lows in slugging percentage (.430) and OPS (.783) at age 36, and was repeatedly benched in the playoffs. He’s still owed $114 million for the next five seasons, including $28 million for 2013.

UPDATE: Rodriguez reportedly had to be hospitalized during the playoffs.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”