New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira expects that he will continue to feel tightness in his wrist through at least June if not the full season, reports Daniel Babarisi of the Wall Street Journal.
Mark Teixeira injury: Yankees 1B expecting wrist tightness throughout season
Teixeira is hoping the injury is healed enough that he will be able to be a productive member of the Yankees’ lineup in 2014 as the team seeks a playoff berth.
Ezra Shaw
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Teixeira has missed large chunks of time due to injury and illness over the last two years. In 2012 he suffered from congestion of the bronchi, wrist inflammation and a calf strain, resulting in him playing in just 123 games. When he was in the lineup, he hit just .251/.332/.475 with 24 home runs, the worst season of his career up to that point.
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In spring of 2013, Teixeira strained a wrist tendon while playing in the World Baseball Classic. He rejoined the Yankees at the end of May, but played in just 15 games before re-aggravating the injury and landing back on the DL. He had season ending wrist surgery at the beginning of July. Teixeira was told it would take about a year before he stopped feeling discomfort.
Teixeira, 33, is continuing to rehab and is taking batting practice. He expects to fight through any remaining tightness and be in the Yankees’ lineup on opening day. Teixeira believes his wrist will hold up, but even he admits that he won’t know until he starts facing live pitching.
Teixeira in the lineup is likely good news for the Yankees, who have already lost both their starting second baseman and third baseman from the last few years as Robinson Cano signed with the Mariners and Alex Rodriguez is suspended for all of 2014.
That leaves the Yankees with an infield of a recovering Teixeira, an aged and coming-off-a-serious-injury Derek Jeter, an aged and coming-off-several-injuries Brian Roberts, and Kelly Johnson. The Yankees have spent a lot of money on improving their team this year, but have an entire infield of question marks. If Teixeira can't produce like normal, the infield could be one of the worst in the majors.
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