While discussing the news that Mark Teixeira had left the World Baseball Classic with a wrist injury, we wondered whether this would be the year when all of the bad omens for the Yankees combined to catch up with them.
Those who believe that things will truly be that bad in the Bronx got some confirmation on Wednesday with the news that Teixeira will be out for the next 8-10 weeks with a strained tendon in his right wrist. The news comes on the heels of the loss of Curtis Granderson to a fractured forearm and leaves the Yankees stretched terribly thin to start the year.
The in-house options to replace Teixeira are underwhelming. They could move Kevin Youkilis over from third base and go with Eduardo Nunez or Jayson Nix or roll with Dan Johnson, but that makes for an anemic lineup when you're also covering for the absence of Granderson.
General manager Brian Cashman indicated that the team would be looking at what develops on the infield corners over the rest of spring training with their squad as well as with players who may become available on other teams. Cashman expressed a note of pessimism about finding someone better than what's already on hand, which we imagine is at least partially a way to deflate any notions of a massive name dropping into the lineup all of a sudden.
While the Yankees haven't been particularly proactive this offseason, it's hard to believe they'll enter the year with a lineup that will be relying almost exclusively on Robinson Cano and the oft-injured Travis Hafner as sources of power. It's okay to go with a lineup that's not overly reliant on power to generate runs, but it isn't like the Yankees are replacing Granderson and Teixeira with other skilled offensive players.
It's probably going to be a slog for the Yankees in the early going, putting pressure on the pitching staff to get out of the gate strong to keep the team from playing catch-up all year long.
Josh Alper is also a writer for Pro Football Talk. You can follow him on Twitter.
