I prefer to wear my rose colored glasses, even at night.....

All is not lost. A-Rod, our conquering hero, will not need to spend the majority of the season rehabbing at some undisclosed location. Instead, he will opt to have arthroscopic surgery on the torn labrum in his hip, a less invasive surgery than the one he will eventually need to repair the bone itself. Thusly, the New York Yankees' slugging third baseman should be back in a little over a month.

Forget the visions of Scott Rolen and his enormous weight of a contract being handed to the Yankees by the Blue Jays, or some swap of young pitching to the Colorado Rockies for Garret Atkins. The Yankees will now either decide to hand their 3B job to Cody Ransom for a month or go get themselves a much less expensive, short-term option. Does anyone know the number for the Wendy's Mark Grudzielanek is currently working at off hand?

Look, we can debate A-Rod and his penchant for creating serious problems both on and off the field for a long, long, long time, but only the most blind A-Rod hater would discount his importance to the lineup. When he is playing at his best, he is the most talented player in baseball, bar none. Even when he isn't at his best, he is still a force few teams possess in their everyday lineup, so losing him for a week, a month, or two months is a blow.

But I really don't think the Yankees are in as deep a pool of water as a lot of others seem. Maybe that's because I am an optomist at heart, or maybe it is because today it is 60 degrees outside and, for the first time since September of last year, I had the inkling to throw the ball around, I just believe the New York Yankees can survive and even thrive without The Rod himself.

Why?

You don't have to score as much if you pitch.

The last I checked the Yankees had spent A LOT, and I mean A LOT or money on pitching this year and, for the first time in years come in with a rotation that promises to be a major plus rather than a huge question mark. CC Sabathia takes his considerable girth to the mound as the Bombers unmistable ace, providing as stable a top of the rotation presence to the Yanks as they have had in the last two decades. Plus, he is a lefty and barring some freak injury - the guy has been a horse his entire career - he should be poised to give the Yanks some of the best seasons of his career.

AJ Burnett has to prove that he can stay healthy but, when on, he perhaps has the best pure stuff of the rotation. He is the epitome of the power pitcher and he does something the Yankees have come to value more and more the last few years - he misses bats.

Chien Mien Wang is coming off a foot injury but he has proven himself to be one of the most consistent starters in the majors over the last four years. He won 38 games in two years - 19 games in a row in 06 and 07 - and was well on his way to another high win total last year before hurting his foot. The additions of Sabathia and Burnett should help Wang more than anyone as he can slide into a #3 role in the rotation and provide a wonderful contrast to the hard throwing Sabathia and Burnett.

Andy Pettitte provide veteran leadership and promises to have a better year than last if he can stay healthy, and Joba Chamberlain, who will slide in as the Yankee fifth starter, has the potential to be as dominant as either Burnett or Sabathia in the long run.

One through five, it is the most impressive rotation in baseball and the depth is there with young arms like Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, and even Ian Kennedy waiting to help if and when needed.

Hey, when the Yankees won their championships they did it on the shoulders of great pitching and incredible clutch hitting. They didn't have an A-Rod on their team at that time but they knew how to win. A paycheck never won a game in any sport at any time.

If the Bombers stop the other team from scoring on a more consistent basis, which they should if the starters perform up to expectations, the loss of A-Rod should not be devastating.

There are still a few hitters on the team.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Yankees will still field a lineup even without A-Rod, and a few of the guys will even have a chance to get a few hits.

Take A-Rod out of this lineup. That means you would almost automatically move Teixeira down to the four hole and plug someone else into the three hole. To me, Matsui makes the most sense. Yes, he's coming off of surgery, but let's assume he isn't done completely as a ball player. When Godzilla has been healthy for the Yanks he has been good for 20+ homers, 100+ RBI, an average close to .300 and an OBP of .370 or better. If you assume that he won't produce at his highest levels, you should still be expecting a .280 average, 20 homers, 100 RBI, and a good OBP, right? Is that outlandish to assume? He'll have good top of the lineup guys getting on base in front of him, and even if he doesn't hit for 20+ homer power anymore he should be able to drive in 100 runs just by making contact a lot of the time.

If Matsui stays healthy and you put a lineup out there for one month of Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, Mark Teixeira as your top four, that's still pretty darn good, isn't it? Then, add in the fact that the Yankees expect a much bigger year out of Robinson Cano, who could slide into the five hole for the Bombers, and you are suddenly putting out a lineup that has professional hitters at virtually every turn. Damon, Jeter, Teixeira, and Cano all have the capabilty of providing top quality offense at their positions, while Matsui, Posada, and Xavier Nady should be more than competent provided they all stay healthy. Yes, third base and even center could be big offensive holes, but with improved pitching and a few clutch hits from the big bats in the lineup, shouldn't the Yanks be able to compensate for two spots in the lineup?

Now, because A-Rod is electing to have the less invasive procedure, this isn't as great a concern, but even if he were to miss more time the Yanks should be able to score enough runs to get by.

There is a reason for a $200 million payroll. If it isn't to shield the franchise against one injury devastating the team, than what is it for?

Maybe we need a little break.

This is a little less concrete, but I just have this feeling that a month or even two away from the walking scandal that is A-Rod would do the team well. On the one hand, his injury seems to put in jeopardy the fast start this team so desperately needs. They have hamstrung themselves over the last several years with terrible starts and have had to extend a tremendous amount of energy climbing their homemade mountain. After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 1994, and considering they are about to open a $1.2 billion stadium this year, they are looking for a return to prominence. Plus, several future hang in the balance, from players such as Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, who are on the last year of their contract, to second year manager Joe Girardi, who probably wouldn't survive another baseball-less October. Getting behind two of the best teams in baseball, the Red Sox and Rays, right at the beginning of the season would seem suicidal.

But I would contend that having the circus du-A-Rod put on hold for a while might give the team enough emotional freedom to establish some kind of chemistry. Look, we know what a train wreck this guy can be. Most of it is his doing, some of it is just the nature of the beast created around him. But there's no question it is a distraction. At least, if he sits out the next month or so the team will be able to concentrate on baseball and will be free of answering Page 6 questions all the time. Maybe they get on a roll, start to play solid baseball, and will be able to tolerate the disruption when he finally does come back. The questions will still be there, the distractions will be there, but the team might be comfortable with one another at that point.

Plus, it is really the best possible timing. If the Yanks had let this linger and then, at the end of April or beginning of May decided to go ahead with surgery it would have thrown the early part of the season into disarray. Now, the team knows they have to compensate without A-Rod and can prepare mentally and also make the necessary adjustments on the roster. It won't throw anything too far out of whack.

Also, the length of time is now not so extreme that it forces the Yankees to either make a dumb move for a lesser player or have him come back in the middle of the season and potentially screw up any karma they might have going.

If you take out off days and vacations, it's really only like three days.

Again, A-Rod's decision changes the entire scenario here. It's only one month. You can make up for anyone as long as it is only a month. Cody Ransom, for 20+ games could catch lightening in a bottle. Someone like Robinson Cano or Xavier Nady could play out of their minds for one month. The Yankee pitching could throw shut out after shut out for one month. Again, anything can happen.