Mark Teixeira hopes to avoid season-ending knee surgery
Mark Teixeira #25 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The best-case scenario, Mark Teixeira said, is he’s playing rehab games in about three weeks, with a return to the Yankees’ lineup soon after that.
He, of course, knows better than anyone that his 36-year-old body hasn’t exactly been cooperating in recent years when it comes to the best case anything.
Still, Teixeira said it was “definitely a relief” Monday when doctors told him they believed he could get through the year without season-ending surgery for the articular cartilage tear in his right knee that landed him on the DL Saturday.
“If I see two or three different doctors and they all say, ‘Mark, you’re not going to be able to get through this season with the injury,’ that’s the worse news,” Teixeira said Tuesday afternoon. “But they all said, let’s do cortisone [shots] . . . let’s manage the pain and you should be able to get through the season.”
Teixeira, a free agent at season’s end, had surgery for a similar issue on his left knee in 2007 and said recovery time after the operation is four to six months.
The veteran, limited to an average of 83 games a season the previous three years because of a variety of injuries, conceded surgery “probably” will eventually be required for the knee.
“But our whole focus was, can I get through this season?” said Teixeira, who has a .180/.271/.263 slash line with three homers and 12 RBIs in 167 at-bats. “And we determined, yes, I can get through this season, or we hope I can get through this season.”
Refsnyder first option
Rob Refsnyder started a fourth straight game at first base, though Joe Girardi said lefty-hitting Chris Parmelee would get some games there as well.
“He’s going to play a lot,” Girardi said of Refsnyder. “I’m going to pick my days to play Parm, too. It’s not an everyday situation for anyone at this point.”
Extra bases
Girardi indicated Monday the Yankees might use a sixth starter during this stretch of 26 games in 27 days but said Tuesday “we’re going to stay in rotation.” . . . The Yankees brought up righthander Anthony Swarzak from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned righthander Luis Cessa. Swarzak had a 4.64 ERA in six games as a starter but a 1.98 ERA in nine games since being moved to the bullpen.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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