Semi-Breaking News: Teix Scratched From The WBC Roster With A Wrist Injury (Updated)

Details are still coming in, but it sounds like you can add another name to the growing list of injury cases on the Yankee roster this spring.

Mark Teixeira was removed from Team USA's World Baseball Classic lineup a few hours ago after reportedly feeling soreness in his right forearm.  Teix was taking swings in the batting cage, felt something, and was shut down.  It has since been reported by Jon Morosi and Bryan Hoch that the source of the pain is more in the wrist area than the forearm and that Teix will be removed from the Team USA WBC roster entirely.  X-rays were taken and came back negative, which is a good thing, but there are still more tests that need to be run to come to a conclusion on the severity of this injury and the Yankee doctors will obviously want to check Teix themselves.

Teix is another of the big three that the Yankees can't afford to be without this season, and they're already without one of them until May.  Hopefully this doesn't turn into something more serious.

** UPDATE 5:43PM- The Yankees are officially calling the injury a "strained right wrist" and saying Teix will be evaluated by team doctors tomorrow.  I've got a bad feeling about this. **

** UPDATE 7:03AM Wednesday- According to Cash, Teix felt a "pop" in his wrist and will be shut down for at least two weeks.  Cash is reportedly "very concerned."  Not good. (Via Dan Barbarisi) **

I WAS IN THE POOL!!! I WAS IN THE POOL!!!!!

The other bit of news from this past weekend that I glossed over yesterday was Phil Hughes getting cleared to get out of the pool and back onto a baseball diamond.  He played a round of catch on Sunday, said his back felt fine, and should be back on his way to getting ready for the start of the regular season.

Now I don't know much about pool workouts or how they're supposed to help an athlete.  I don't know if working out in a pool for pretty much all of last week helped strengthen Hughes' back or was in any way helpful in his preparation for this season.  But I do know one thing that had to come out of Hughes spending all that time in a pool...

Nova's New Arm Angle Could Be The Key To His Success

Ivan Nova's first spring start this past weekend was everything you would want to see from a young pitcher coming off a bad year: he was efficient (27 pitches in 2 innings), his velocity was good, he was aggressive with his fastball, and most importantly, he located that fastball.  Nova threw 22 of his 27 pitches for strikes, the bulk of them 4-seamers, and drew praise from everybody for how well he commanded the pitch.

After the outing, it was revealed that Nova had been working on a new arm angle in the offseason, one designed to shorten up his release and make it easier to repeat.  Michael Eder of IIATMS/TYA examined the change in arm angle yesterday and provided a side-by-side GIF comparison to show just how much shorter Nova's arm motion was.  Based on the early results we saw on Saturday and the problems Nova had in 2012, this change in arm angle could be just what he needs to turn things around this season.