The moons have aligned in such a way that the Yankees need to get Alex Rodriguez before Bud Selig does.
In the big picture, it would be best for the organization if Rodriguez never came back so it could collect insurance money and avoid the familiar A-Rod circus, and, perhaps, if he goes away due to ties to Biogenesis, the Yankees could chase a pie-in-the-sky chance of having his contract voided.
But in the small picture — in the just trying to win in 2013 scenario — here is a question: Would you rather have whatever version is left of A-Rod hitting fifth or Thomas Neal? Because Neal was slated to hit fifth last night before the rainout against the Dodgers, and the best you could say about that is it wasn't Ben Francisco.
REUTERS
KEVIN YOUKILIS
Out 10-12 weeks (herniated disk)
AP
MARK TEIXEIRA
On 15-day DL (wrist)
Look, the hurdles between Rodriguez and a successful return to the Yankees are substantial. He turns 38 next month. He is coming off a second major hip surgery. And you keep wondering if he is one step ahead of the baseball law or one step closer
to the Yankees at all times.
But the Yankees learned yesterday Kevin Youkilis — the man who would replace A-Rod — has a herniated disk and will be gone at least 2 1/2 months. Thus, his Yankees career just might be done.
Mark Teixeira went to the disabled list after re-aggravating his right wrist injury. Teixeira said he expects to be back in two weeks and able to stay pain-free afterward, but admitted that was as much to do with his optimistic nature as anything.
So, for now, the Yankees' corner infielders are David Adams and Lyle Overbay, and the team is again in survive-and-advance mode, hoping high-end pitching now can get it to late next month in contention when, maybe, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and, yes, A-Rod can return.
Again, the odds are not good on all three coming back considering how many setbacks the Yankees already have dealt with this season. It is even smaller odds that all three will come back productive.
But the season almost certainly is doomed if at least two of them don't, because the Yankees' pitching is good, but not good enough to carry
this offense for a whole season. Their regular lineup has just three players performing better than league average — Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner and Travis Hafner.
There are just too many sub-.300 on-base percentages, too many sub-.400 slugging percentages. If you can't get on base and can't hit the ball for extra bases, you can't score enough. Period.
Rodriguez's .783 OPS of last year looks terrible against his career, but would be a godsend for this lineup. And word out of Tampa is A-Rod's rehab is going terrific, he is moving well and driving the ball with authority in batting practice. With that positive trajectory as background, I asked Brian Cashman if the Yankees needed A-Rod, especially in light of the loss of Youkilis.
"We are paying him a [bleep] load of money, and needing him and the amount we are paying him should go hand in hand," the general manager said.
But here is the other item — Rodriguez needs this. Obviously, he has reached the point where a critical mass of even Yankees fans never are going to embrace him, perhaps not even tolerate his appearance. Nevertheless, any small chance he has to make good in the eyes of some percentage of the faithful is to come back this year and — at these hours of Yankees offensive desperation — be a help or even more.
I can guarantee you that is what A-Rod is thinking. That he will sidestep all the hurdles — age, injury, Selig's police — and hit a bunch of huge homers over the final two months, carry the Yanks into yet another October.
"Oh yeah," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, when I asked if he could imagine Rodriguez doing just that. Mattingly actually liked A-Rod quite a bit when he was a Yankees coach "because he always wanted to be great, and I think it is still in him to want that and to do something special."
It sets up as the most interesting possible Yankees story of this season — can A-Rod come back to help this team? Help himself? He never can get full redemption, too much dirt on his record for that. But his last best chance to do any good for his reputation opened further when Youkilis' short Yankees career likely came to a close.
So, of all things, the Yanks need the guy in hot water back at the hot corner. And A-Rod needs them. The marriage may not be made in heaven, but it is a marriage that just might work for both sides.
joel.sherman@nypost.com
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