Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Is Mark Teixiera Being Selfish?

So Mark Teixiera is going to do everything he can to avoid surgery on his knee. It would actually be a debridement procedure to remove damaged cartilage, the same procedure he had done to his other knee after the 2007 season.

You might be thinking "Mark should have the surgery, as he played in 157 games the following season and was awesome", however I would like to point out that Tex was just 27 years old then, and certainly not the same player then as he is now.

At first I was upset about this news, as it initially came off as selfish. My thought being that the only reason he's opting not to have the procedure is to improve his numbers for his impending free agency. After all, if you were a MLB General Manager, would you be rushing to sign a 37 year old that would not only be coming off of major knee surgery, but who also just had the worst offensive season of his career?

However, after taking a moment to think about it, Mark is not somebody that I believe would knowingly hurt the Yankees. I have not read one bad word about Teixeira, as he seems to be well respected and liked among everybody in the organization. Honestly, seeing him go will be a little sad, as I have a lot of good memories... on and off the field... of the guy.

Regardless of those memories, though, I'd like to see the Yankees move on from veterans such as Tex, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez, etc. Things have to evolve, and they can't when roster space, along with a truckload of money, is tied up like that. The Yankees have to see what their options are for the future. For example, can Rob Refsnyder handle first base regularly? Or can they at least give Ref more MLB at bats and see if he fits in anywhere on the team in the future?

Perhaps re-signing Teixeira for next season, in order to ease Greg Bird back into action, would be an okay scenario. I'm sure Greg could learn a thing or two from Mark about playing defense at first base. But things have to change... that's for sure.

3 comments:

  1. Sign the sob for a dollar, he's made enough. I don't know, I constantly recall him bitching and not signing autographs for children, so I'm jaded. He used to be my favorite player.

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    1. I too was a big Tex fan. I can't anymore when he only thinks about advancing his personal stats and not trying to help the team by taking what is given to him at the plate. If he never played another inning for the Yanks it would be fine with me. Defensive specialists like Tex come into the game in the 8th & 9th inning especially when they hit .180

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    2. I loved Teix until he proved to be made of glass. Well that and when he flat out refused to beat the shift of change and adjust his game. One of the greatest of all time Mariano Rivera constantly adjusted and changed his game... but Teix doesn't need to?

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)