Wednesday, January 16, 2013

A-Rod Surgery Day; Youkilis New Stance

Today is the long awaited day where Alex Rodriguez will finally undergo surgery to repair his torn labrum, bone impingement and a cyst. It will take Dr. Bryan Kelly approximately two hours to perform the operation and he gave a rough estimate of "about six months" of rehabbing before A-Rod can even think about coming back to play baseball. Dr. Kelly says it would not be unfathomable to see Alex return after the All-Star break. In a way, that doesn't make me optimistic for a 2013 A-Rod return. The rough date set by his doctor is barring any setbacks. If something goes wrong in his rehab, Rodriguez is almost certain to miss the entire 2013 season, which would be music to Kevin Youkilis' ears.
 
Speaking of Kevin Youkilis, he is excited for a fresh start in pinstripes and hopes to perform well under the pressure of the bright Bronx lights. This is something of familiarly to Youk as he thrived in pressure packed moments during his run with the Boston Red Sox where he was beloved by fans and teammates.
 
Youkilis sat down for an interview with Jack Curry recently and discussed with Curry what he expects out of himself this year. Youk has already worked with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long on his new and improved stance. According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, Youkilis will lower his hands, spread his legs wider apart and he will be in more of a crouch. These changes come after Youkilis and K-Long looked at footage from 2008 where Kevin Youkilis was having a great year, using similar mechanics.
 
Mechanics aside, Youkilis admitted that CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte called him in an effort to recruit him to the Yankees. Before signing with the Yankees, Youkilis also was in touch with Johnny Damon and asked for advice on how to behave in his transition from Boston to New York. Damon supposedly highly endorsed the switch.

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