The Yankees have said that they expect Mark Teixeira will miss 8-10 weeks, but that very well could be on the low-end as wrist injuries are tricky.
Just ask Mark DeRosa, who was chased by the Yankees when he was a free agent after the 2009 season. Back then he was a guy who could play at least four different positions and was counted on to post an OPS in the .800 range. One nasty wrist injury later and he hasn’t played in even 50 games in any of the past three seasons while hitting just .220/.309/.269 with the Giants and Nationals.
“Don’t come back until it’s right or you’ll never be right again,” DeRosa warned Teixeira, via Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. “Your bat speed, your stability, your power, your stamina, everything (gets) compromised by it.”
The two injuries are different though. Teixeira’s is not nearly as bad as DeRosa’s was since the sheath in his wrist has not been torn. But it does show just how important and delicate wrists are to hitters and should be incentive enough for the Yankees to take it extremely slow pushing Teix to come back. After all, the wrist doesn’t require surgery now, but rushing him back could cause a setback and, in that case, surgery would be on the table.
This is perhaps why we could see the Yankees address the Teixeira situation by going out and making a trade while they were content to ride out the Curtis Granderson situation. If Teixeira is out until June, or later, it could doom the Yankees in 2013, but with four years and $90 million left on his deal it could do some serious damage to the team long-term.
“The doctors made it very clear to me that that they aren’t going to let me swing until it’s 100 percent pain-free,” Teixeria said. “However long that takes, we don’t know.
“That’s why we had the conservative 8 to 10 weeks. But we really don’t know how long it’s going to take before I can swing pain-free.”
Also to be considered is the fact that this is not the first time Teixeira has injured his wrist. He dealt with this injury late last year as well and something about the suddenness of this injury makes it feel like he never completely recovered last season. If the injuries are indeed related that’s all the more reason to err on the side of resting him too long early this season.
So while the Yankees and Brian Cashman are saying the right things, that he’s fine, it’ll only be 8-10 weeks, and they’ll weather the storm without him, behind the scenes they could be prepping for having him out longer than that. And don’t be totally shocked if they go out and made a deal for a replacement so they don’t feel pressure to rush him back.
• Speaking of potential trades, the Yankees have called the Padres to ask about Chase Headley, but it doesn’t sound like he’s available right now. Headley will make $8.575 million in 2013 and will be a free agent after 2014.
• Ronnier Mustelier is being seriously considered as a third baseman after only being considered an outfielder earlier this spring.
• Boone Logan (elbow) threw a bullpen today and said afterwards that he was pain-free and expects to be ready for Opening Day.
• Other injured pitchers, Phil Hughes (back), David Robertson (shoulder) and David Aardsma (groin), all threw bullpens on Saturday and felt fine. They’ll each throw another one on Monday.
• Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter both played in their first games of Spring Training on Saturday. Jeter singled in his first at bat and went 1-for-2 as the DH. Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two K’s.
• The Yankees are down to 64 players in camp as they have cut righties Tom Kahnle and Kelvin Perez.
