Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Surgery Recommended For Teixeira

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

The writing for this was pretty much on the wall from the moment he injured his wrist in March.  It was filled in darker a little more than a week ago when he asked out of a game and ended up back on the DL with inflammation.  And it got written over in big, bold permanent ink today when the Yankees announced that surgery is being recommended for Mark Teixeira's injured wrist tendon sheath.

Based on a review by both team and outside doctors, it has been determined that the sheath is not healing "adequately" and the recommendation is for surgery to properly correct the problem.  At a press conference a little more than an hour ago, Teix expressed his frustration and disappointment with the situation.  He said he plans on having the surgery sometime next week and with an expected rehab timeframe of 4-5 months it will be the season-ending surgery we all expected it to eventually be.  Teix did say he expected to be 100% within 6 months, which should put him in good shape to return at full strength next year.

That this was the widely anticipated endgame for this injury since its initial diagnosis in March doesn't make it any less of a blow to the Yankees.  They're essentially going without their 30 HR/100 RBI first baseman for this entire season, a loss that has been just as impactful on the poor offense as any other.  With Lyle Overbay struggling in June (.208/.255/.313, 33.3% K rate), the Yankees will likely need to look for an upgrade at first base.

Pineda Strong Again In Latest Rehab Start

In injury/comeback-related news that's not playing out like a middle school argument, Michael Pineda made his latest MiL rehab start last night for Double-A Trenton and turned in another good performance.  He tossed 6 shutout innings with just 2 hits and 2 walks allowed and 4 strikeouts.  With a pitch count of 80, Pineda threw 77 pitches (52 for strikes) and according to Mike Ashmore was hitting 95 on the radar gun.

This is the same type of stuff we've seen from Pineda in his previous rehab outings and the news continues to be encouraging.  With less than 2 weeks left on his 30-day rehab window, Pineda should be looking at 2 more starts before the Yankees have to make their decision and I'd like to see both of those come against the highest level hitters possible in Triple-A.  The smart move is probably to send him down to the Minors again to regain the year of team control, but there's still time until that call has to be made.

Brian Cashman Should Probably Stop Talking

(Ahh the bad old days.  Courtesy of the AP)

I ended last week's speculative post on what might be going on behind the scenes in the Yankee front office by saying, "Let's see how Cash handles the next big injury situation with the media and then we might be onto something."  After the bomb he dropped yesterday in regards to Alex Rodriguez's tweet about being cleared to play, I think it's now safe to say that we're onto something.

“You know what, when the Yankees want to announce something, [we will].  Alex should just shut the fuck up. That’s it. I’m going to call Alex now.”

I'm a Cash guy through and through, and I'll usually go to bat for him on pretty much anything, but this was absolutely inexcusable on his part and way out of line.  All A-Rod's tweet really boils down to was him saying he was excited about getting closer to returning and Cash ran over him with the bus at full speed for it, backed over him about a half dozen times, and then circled the block just so he could build up enough to momentum to run him over one more time.  It was way out of character for Cash, even compared to the stuff he said about Kevin Long last week, and it was wrong and downright childish.

Game 76 Wrap-Up: NYY 4 TEX 3

(Courtesy of the AP)

The Yankees started a 20 games in 20 days stretch last night leading up to the All Star Break and they welcomed the Texas Rangers to town for the first time this season.  It was must see TV in Japan with a pitching matchup of Hiroki Kuroda and Yu Darvish to start the game and some fireworks from Ichiro to end it.  My fellow IIATMS/TYA writers and I were joking yesterday about the odds of Darvish throwing a no-hitter or a perfect game last night, something that anybody who's been watching the Yankee offense lately would have had to actually acknowledge as a possibility even if they were joking.  As luck would have it, the Yankees didn't only not get no hit but they managed to dust off the old "too many homers" meme for a night and slug their way to victory.

Game Notes:

- In the bottom of the 1st it looked like it was going to be more of the same from the lineup.  3 straight 1-out singles loaded the bases for Lyle Overbay and all he could do was strike out looking.  Zoilo grounded out to end the threat and the inning.

- Texas got on the board first in the top of the 3rd on a solo HR by Leonys Martin of all people.  Kuroda left a sinker up just enough for Martin to get a good swing on it and it was 1-0 Rangers.

- They tacked on more runs in the 4th on a pair of singles and an RBI groundout and another HR by Martin to lead off the 5th.  Kuroda was a little shaky - 5 hits and a walk, plus the 2 Martin homers, through 5 - before cleaning it up and retiring the final 5 batters he faced without issue.

- The lineup started its HR parade in the bottom of the 4th on a solo shot by Travis Hafner to lead off the inning.  Brett Gardner followed suit to lead off the 5th to make it 3-2 before Overbay stranded 2 more runners, and Jayson Nix made it 3 leadoff dingers in a row to tie the game in the 6th.

- Kuroda gave way to Boone Logan to finish the 7th, then it was on to David Robertson and Mariano Rivera for the 8th and 9th.  They each pitched around base hits to hold the Rangers at 3 and set up for Ichiro's 9th inning dramatics.

- Texas reliever Tanner Scheppers had to feel good after working around a leadoff walk of Chris Stewart with a force out and caught stealing of Gardner.  He tried to sneak a 1-2 fastball - his 4th straight of the AB - by Ichiro and instead Ichiro turned on it to put it over the fence in right and give the Yankees their first walk-off win of the year.