Yankees’ drama: Teixeira out for season; Cashman apologizes

Mark Teixeira is out for the season. Brian Cashman regrets his outburst. Alex Rodriguez has a heart-to-heart with owner Hal Steinbrenner.

Oh, and happy 39th birthday, Derek Jeter.

On a wild day in Yankees land, with big news coming out of New York — and the weight room in Tampa, Fla. — baseball’s most storied franchise paraded three prominent figures in front of a microphone at Yankee Stadium for 45 minutes worth of news conferences Wednesday to discuss a myriad of team issues. Group therapy? Not really. Damage control? You bet.

The most disappointing development for the Yankees concerned Teixeira, who will have season-ending surgery on his right wrist, probably early next week.

The club announced that the switchhitting first baseman had an MRI with dye contrast and team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad determined that Teixeira’s torn tendon sheath had not adequately healed. Three hand specialists concurred, and the two-time All-Star said he was told he should be 100 percent

NOTES healthy six months after surgery.

“It’s very tough, especially in a season where the team could probably use me,” Teixeira said, batting second in the news conference lineup between manager Joe Girardi and Cashman.

The status of Rodriguez’s rehabilitation became a major point of contention this week. The three-time American League Most Valuable Player had left hip surgery on Jan. 16 and New York has said it expects him to return sometime after the All-Star break.

The star third baseman posted Tuesday evening on Twitter that his hip surgeon had cleared him to play in rehab games, a move that angered Cashman because Rodriguez has not been cleared by team doctors yet — a point the general manager had just explained to reporters the day before.

Cashman told ESPNNewYork.com that “Alex should just shut the ... up,” punctuating his comment with a profanity.

“I regret the choice of words I used,” Cashman said Wednesday, later adding: “I think we’re both at fault.”

Steinbrenner spoke with Rodriguez when the owner was working out in the weight room at the team’s complex in Tampa, where Rodriguez has been rehabbing lately, Cashman said.

Cashman said Steinbrenner reiterated to A-Rod that injury information should be announced by the team, not individual players on social media.

Jeter, meanwhile, has been sidelined since breaking his left ankle last Oct. 13 in the AL Championship Series opener. He reinjured the ankle while rehabbing.

RED SOX — Already out 2½ weeks with a neck injury, pitcher Clay Buchholz cut short a bullpen session and was scheduled for a medical scan.

Buchholz (9-0) has been on the disabled list since June 9 with a neck strain. With the team’s cable network showing manager John Farrell and pitching coach Juan Nieves watching, Buchholz stopped throwing after about 18 pitches.

Also, right-hander Clayton Mortensen was activated from the 15-day disabled list. Mortensen went on the DL on June 11 with a strained right groin.

INDIANS — Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was activated from the 15-day disabled list and infielder John McDonald was designated for assignment. Cabrera strained his right quadriceps running out a grounder on June 3.

METS — Manager Terry Collins said top prospect Zack Wheeler is tipping his breaking pitches.

Collins said the Mets noticed the flaw in Wheeler’s motion during his second big league start on Tuesday. Wheeler allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox.

“We saw it. We tried to address it during the game a little bit,” Collins said.

The 23-year-old right-hander, who started the season at Triple A Las Vegas, is scheduled to start again Sunday, and Collins said pitching coach Dan Warthen will work with Wheeler during a bullpen session today.

“Guys look for it all the time. It starts with the glove,” Collins said. “Moving the glove there’s different things to look for and then all of a sudden you start to look when he speeds up, when he slows down, what the pitches are. You start to get a read on it.”

ORIOLES — Pitching prospect Dylan Bundy will have season-ending elbow ligament-replacement surgery today, manager Buck Showalter said.

The procedure will end a frustrating season in which the right-hander never threw in a game.