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Yankees: Can the AL East be won without Mark Teixeira?

By Nick Ziegler

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The New York Yankees came into the 2015 season holding their breath about some of their older players that have had injury issues in recent years.

One of the players that the Yankees had a lot of concern about was their first baseman Mark Teixeira.

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Since 2012, injuries have derailed Teixeira’s career, as he played in just 123 games in 2012, 15 games in 2013, and 123 games in 2014. Teixeira made it a priority of this offseason to get in fantastic shape with his gluten-free diet, but once again it will be an early end to his season.

“I can’t put into words how disappointing this is,” Teixeira said to Dan Martin of the New York Post.

The original tests didn’t show a fracture to the shin of Teixeira, as he made a brief return against the Houston Astros for two games after a few games off.

“This one definitively shows a fracture,” Cashman said to Martin. “The previous tests did not show a fracture.”

The Yankees have shocked many this season with their great play over the course of the season. In baseball, very rarely does one player carry a team, but Teixeira has been a huge reason why the Yankees are where they are this season.

This season, Teixeira is hitting .255 with 31 home runs and 79 RBIs. The improved batting average with the great power numbers from Teixeira had him in the MVP conversation before he was injured with his individual success and the success of the Yankees.

The combination of Teixeira, Brian McCann and Alex Rodriguez in the middle of the order had the Yankees feeling like one of the great power lineups of old with the three having a chance to combine for 100 home runs.

While the injury to Teixeira is a crippling blow, they do have the luxury of having one of their bright young prospects being a first baseman.

The Yankees called up Greg Bird in the middle of August, as he made his debut on the 13th of the month against the Cleveland Indians. The original reason for calling up Bird was to give Rodriguez and Teixeira some days off in the dog days of August. In typical baseball fashion, Teixeira fouled a ball off his leg shortly after Bird was called up and the rookie found himself as the new starting first baseman.

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Bird has played well at the major league level with five home runs and 17 RBIs with a few very timely hits for New York. While Bird has done well, he just simply will not replace the offensive production that Teixeira was giving the Yankees.

The Yankees have been living by the long ball this season, but without a slugger in the middle of the order, the Yankees may need to adjust their offensive game-plan. Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner are both battling nagging injuries, but they both offer the Yankees the ability to run at the top of the order.

At the beginning of the season, both Ellsbury and Gardner were running well, and the Yankees could use more of that to spark the offense without Teixeira. The Yankees still have some good power with Rodriguez, McCann, and Carlos Beltran in the middle of the order, but they could use the speed of Ellsbury and Gardner to better balance out their lineup.

The Yankees are trailing the Blue Jays by a couple games in the AL East, but without Teixeira, hopping them will be a difficult task at this time.

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