Yankees Spring Training: Mark Teixeira will miss the first week of games

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is still recovering from the wrist surgery he had in July, and while he's expected to be ready to go for the regular season, he won't be playing in games for a few more days. Spring training games begin on the 25, but Teixeira won't be ready to play until March 3, when the Yankees face the Nationals. He'll miss games against the Florida State Seminoles, Pirates, Tigers, Phillies, and Blue Jays.

While he's not sure when he'll see live batting practice, he says he's probably about a week to 10 days away from facing a pitcher. That would mean we have until around March 1 before we know wether or not his wrist is ready for actual games. To be on the safe side, he won't be playing full-time this spring. He has previously said that the plan is to get 50 plate appearances in the next month and that will be enough to determine if his wrist is strong enough to play again.

As a precaution, Tex will now be taping up both his wrist, something he has never done before in his career. Not even when he suffered a wrist injury in 2009 did he tape up his wrist, but now "the tape feels good and I tape myself.'' Thanks, Mark.

If Teixeira's wrist proves to be a problem this spring, the Yankees don't really have a compelling replacement for him. They have Russ Canzler, Kelly Johnson, and Corban Joseph, who have all played some first base throughout their professional careers, but none of them will provide much confidence if the wrist is still a problem. They must be expecting that Teixeira will be ok, but it might have been a good idea to bring someone in just in case.