Mark Teixeira Out 8-10 Weeks
In what’s been a injury-ridden offseason for the New York Yankees, the pinstripes got more bad news on Wednesday, as they learned that starting first baseman Mark Teixeira will be out 8-10 weeks with a strained right wrist.
Teixeira injured the wrist while swinging a bat during pregame warm-ups at the World Baseball Classic and is now expected to miss at least the first month of the regular season. He’ll join Alex Rodriguez – who will be out until at least the All-Star break after undergoing hip surgery – and Curtis Granderson – who will miss the month of April with a forearm fracture – on the list of key Yankee starters who will miss the beginning of the 2013 season.
And to pile on to the massive heap of the wounded, as we learned last week, Phil Hughes may miss the beginning of the regular season schedule with a bulging disk in his back.
The Yankees have been so badly plagued with injuries and ailments that things have even spread to the front office, as Yankees GM Brian Cashman fractured a fibula earlier this week in a sky-diving accident.
“This ain’t good,” said Cashman, who was sitting in a wheelchair when being interviewed by ESPN.
Now that’s an understand if I’ve ever heard one.
The super-sluggin’ Yanks will now be starting the season with only one player in the lineup who hit more than 20 homers last year (Robinson Cano), so they’ll have to find other ways to win games. They certainly have a strong rotation, but without the slew of big hitters, they could have big problems getting out of the gate on the right foot. Speaking of which, Derek Jeter is also still recovering from a fractured ankle and may not be 100% to start the year either.
The offseason acquisitions of Travis Hafner and Kevin Youkilis will ease a little of the Yankees’ aches and pains, but they certainly didn’t envision that those players would have to carry the load through the month of April, and possibly even May.
And with other teams in the AL East looking stronger than ever, including the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees may fall into an early hole in the division starting off the season. New York has been known to close strong down the stretch and they’ll likely have to do it again in 2013. Be very weary of taking the Yankees in futures at the moment and don’t put too much stock in them in April games. It looks like a long, tough road ahead for the Bronx Bombers.
