BALTIMORE – The Greg Bird injury tortures the Yankees still.
When the first-base prospect, who performed well when he made his debut last season, was declared done for the season Feb. 1 to undergo shoulder surgery, the Yankees lost their primary insurance policy in the case of a long-term injury to Mark Teixeira.
That eventuality may have arrived Saturday morning with the announcement Teixeira was placed on the disabled list with a right knee articular cartilage tear.
The oft-injured 36-year-old left Friday night’s 6-5 loss to the Orioles in the third inning, telling Joe Girardi in the dugout he felt the knee “lock up.”
An MRI taken late Friday night showed the tear.
The Yankees, with only backup catcher Austin Romine and Rob Refsnyder as first-base options with Teixeira down, brought up Chris Parmelee from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 28-year old Parmelee, who has played 139 career games at first base in stints with the Twins and Orioles, had a .252/.343/.444 slash line in 43 games with Scranton.
Though the Yankees also have 35-year-old Nick Swisher in Scranton, the reports have not been good regarding the veteran’s ability to move in the field, not a surprise given that both of Swisher’s knees have been surgically repaired in recent years.
“There’s just nothing left in the legs,” said one opposing team minor league scout who covers the Yankees’ system.
It is fair to speculate just how much Teixeira, in the final year of an eight-year, $180-million deal, has left, period.
Teixeira, while decent to good in the field, never got it going at the plate, producing a .180/.271/.263 slash line, with three homers (none since April 13) and 12 RBI.
The switch-hitter, once among the game’s most durable players but limited to an average of 93 games a season the previous four years because of an array of injuries, posted a .159/.216/.207 slash line in May, driving in just two runs in the month.
..... - Newsday