Mark Teixeira was having a fantastic, healthy season until late last month when the annual injury bug finally caught up to him.
Teixeira has been sidelined with a leg injury since Aug. 26 and now the Yankees fear their regular first baseman won't be a part of the lineup in the stretch run to the playoffs, according to MLB.com. That stretch run, of course, includes a huge series against the Blue Jays this weekend in the Bronx and three more games with New York's first-place rival later this month.
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"Yeah, I do wonder," general manager Brian Cashman said about Teixeira's status down the stretch, according to MLB.com. "Again, first and foremost, it's been a long time and he's still having issues. Again, I can't predict what's going to happen here. There is a lot of time left. ... I just don't know. I just can't predict."
The Yankees were criticized heading into the season for having an aging lineup, but the older players contributed in spades this season, including Teixeira up until his injury. The switch-hitting first baseman owned a .255/.357/.548 slashline and was among the league leaders with 39 homers at the time of his injury.
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Rookie Greg Bird has filled in admirably for Teixeira in his absence, hitting .250/.330/.475 with five homers and 17 RBI in 23 games (91 plate appearances). Bird has also hit a staggering .333 against south paws, but as a rookie there's no telling how long he can keep that up.
With Teixeira absent, the Yankees are missing a big bat and throwing a first-year player into a pennant race just over 20 games into his career, so expecting him to maintain the same positive results could be asking a lot.
The Blue Jays have been firing on all cylinders in the second half of the season. Since acquiring left-hander David Price and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki prior to the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31, Toronto has had a massive turnaround and paces New York by 1 1/2 games in the AL East.
The Blue Jays went an astounding 21-6 in August and have won five of their first seven games to start September. Toronto has an MLB-leading 191 homers with the likes of AL MVP candidate Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista in the lineup, while New York is on its heels with 186 of its own to rank third.
If something should happen to Bird and the Yankees are without Teixeira, light-hitting Brendan Ryan is next on the depth chart for New York, which shows how dire this loss of Teixeira is. Ryan is hitting just .213 and fellow bottom of the lineup infielder Stephen Drew, despite hitting 17 homers has a ghastly .203 average.
Here is a look at the position-by-position comparisons (including the homers by each slugger) of the Blue Jays and Yankees.
|
Position |
Blue Jays |
Yankees |
|
Catcher |
Russell Martin (17) |
Brian McCann (25) |
|
First Base |
Justin Smoak (14) |
Greg Bird (5) or Brendan Ryan (0) |
|
Second Base |
Ryan Goins (5) |
Stephen Drew (17) |
|
Shortstop |
Troy Tulowitzki (17 overall, 5 TOR) |
Didi Gregorius (8) |
|
Third Base |
Josh Donaldson (37) |
Chase Headley (10) |
|
Left Field |
Ben Revere (1 overall, 0 TOR) |
Brett Gardner (13) |
|
Center Field |
Kevin Pillar (10) |
Jacoby Ellsbury (7) |
|
Right Field |
Jose Bautista (33) |
Carlos Beltran (14) |
|
Designated Hitter |
Edwin Encarnacion (30) |
Alex Rodriguez (30) |
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