Nightengale: Yankees looking feeble and futile

• These days, the Yankees have become a poor man's version of the Royals
• Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid player in baseball history, will be sidelined for four to six months
• Derek Jeter returning from a broken ankle

NASHVILLE -- Please, can someone step up and save the New York Yankees?

If George Steinbrenner were alive, he'd be mortified watching this mess.

Who's running this franchise these days, Jeffrey Loria?

In the good ol' days, when the Yankees were beset with an obstacle, Steinbrenner would jump on the phone, demand his front office come up with the greatest player you can buy, and order world be restored.

These days, the Yankees have become a poor man's version of the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates, working the edges of free agency and hoping to fill holes frugally.

The Yankees announced Monday that third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the highest-paid player in baseball history, would have hip surgery in January to repair a torn labrum and bone impingement. He will be sidelined for four to six months, the team says.

Maybe even longer.

Calin Moucha, associate chief of joint replacement surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, told USA TODAY Sports, "My expectation is it takes six to 12 months to come back."

"That's devastating," says former Yankees manager Joe Torre, a vice president with Major League Baseball. "You're a month away from being excited about spring training, and you're going back to rehab again. It's got to be frustrating."

Torre was managing the Yankees when something similar happened to their third baseman. Aaron Boone blew out his knee playing basketball in January 2004. The Yankees responded by trading for Rodriguez and the rest of his 10-year, $250 million contract with the Texas Rangers.

Now, with news that Rodriguez is out at least until June, the Yankees say they'll find a remedy.

Are you ready? They might bring back Eric Chavez, who has missed 647 games over the last six years.

Or Ian Stewart, who was non-tendered by the Chicago Cubs. Or Brandon Inge, released last summer by the Detroit Tigers. Or career backup infielder Jeff Keppinger.

Oh, and they also need a right fielder and catcher to join their 38-year-old shortstop (Derek Jeter) returning from a broken ankle, an ace (CC Sabathia) recovering from elbow surgery and a 43-year-old closer (Mariano Rivera) coming off reconstructive knee surgery.

These are the Yankees?

"I never would have dreamt this would ever happen to the Yankees," said John Kruk, the former slugger who Monday was given the coveted ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst job.

The Yankees haven't signed a free agent outside of their organization this winter, bent on getting their payroll under $189 million by 2014 to save a few bucks on their luxury tax.

"We're just not going to overreact," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "It's a significant circumstance. We've dealt with a lot of things over the years, and we'll continue to deal with them as they come.

"No different than we've done in the past."

Well, except that the Yankees used to operate with an open bank vault, and now they're searching under couch cushions for loose change.

The Yankees believe Rodriguez will be fine after surgery. They're fooling themselves.

Rodriguez will never again be the same player. Really, he hasn't been the same player for the last five years — he hasn't played more than 138 games since 2007, and his on-base-plus-slugging percentage has declined every year since — and coming off a second hip surgery at 37, we've seen the last of his greatness.

The great unknown is whether Rodriguez's days of performance-enhancing drug use led to the hip injuries and his dramatic decline.

"There's just no research on that," said Derek Ochiai, an orthopedic hip surgeon in Arlington, Va. "Maybe in an indirect way, just not directly."

Cashman also has no answers, but he acknowledges that Rodriguez has been hit with freak injuries. And the Yankees have been hit with the cruel reality that they might finish with their lowest spot in the division standings since 1992.

"I'm certainly not afraid of this challenge or any challenge that comes our way," Cashman says.

Edward Smith, captain of the Titanic, wasn't afraid of that piece of ice in the Atlantic, either.