Season over for Teixeira
Faces wrist surgery And six months of rehab
MARK Teixeira’s season is over. Now what?
The Yankees announced Wednesday that the first baseman will have season-ending surgery to repair the torn tendon sheath in his right wrist, ending any hope of a return for the power-hitting Teixeira.
A recent dye-contrast MRI led team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad and a trio of hand specialists to recommend the procedure, which will need a sixmonth rehab program.
“It’s very tough, especially in a season where the team could probably use me,” Teixeira said. “I really would’ve loved to be part of hopefully what’s a playoff run, but when you realize that it’s not going to happen it’s really difficult.”
Teixeira said he “knew it was probably going to be bad news” when the cortisone injection he received on June 16 had little impact on his wrist a week later.
Teixeira will have the surgery next week, although he and the Yankees had not yet decided on a surgeon. Teixeira said he would rehab for four or five months and be at 100% strength in six months, leaving him ready to go when spring training opens in February.
The injury occurred while Teixeira was training with Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, but he believes the wrist may have been injured if he had been back in Tampa training with the Yankees.
“It’s been no secret that I’ve spent more time in the batting cage over the last two seasons than I ever have,” Teixeira said. “Being a switch-hitter that’s double what normal players would put on their wrist, and at some point the overuse just got to me.”
Teixeira homered in three of his first seven games after returning from the disabled list on May 31, giving him the confi-
dence that the wrist had healed. Over the next nine games, however, he went 3-for-31 before pulling himself from the game on June 15. Overall, he hit .151 in 15 games, but he said he has “no regrets at all” about the course of action he took between March and May.
“My first week back with the team was far better than I ever expected,” Teixeira said. “At some point on the West Coast I reinjured it. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I have no regrets because up until the point when I reinjured it, everything was going pretty well.”
The news cleared up one of the Yankees’ many questions, as the Bombers are still waiting to see when — or in some cases, whether at all — Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and others will be back to help lift the struggling lineup.
Brian Cashman figures to look for a righthanded-hitting complement to Lyle Overbay between now and the July 31 trade deadline, with Paul Konerko of the White Sox and Michael Young of the Phillies among the potential targets.
“Lyle has done a great job for us, but my job always is to try to see if we can improve, re- gardless of position,” Cashman said. “If something declares itself as an opportunity that makes sense that we can acquire and get our hands on — and the price makes enough sense to us — then we’ll obviously have to look at it. These guys are competing out there. We’re in striking distance. We want to fortify if we can, so anything that comes my way we’ll throw into the analysis side of it and make our recommendations to Hal (Steinbrenner).”
Overbay had only 14 atbats between May 31-June 14, a two-week break that served the 36-year-old well physical- ly. He resumed his role as the everyday first baseman when Teixeira landed back on the DL, and while he admitted that he isn’t the player Teixeira is when healthy, he knows he can help the Yankees as they go on without their regular first baseman.
“I’m not naive in saying that I’m better than him; he’s way better than I am,” Overbay said. “But there are some things that I can bring to the table, so hopefully I can do that and help this team win, that’s what it’s all about from the beginning.”