NEW YORK -- New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira will have surgery on his injured right wrist and will miss the rest of the season, the team announced on Wednesday.
Teixeira is one of several stars currently on the shelf for the Yankees, but the first to be officially ruled out for the rest of 2013.
"It's very tough," Teixeira said. "Especially in a season where the team could probably use me."
The two-time All-Star originally suffered the injury, a torn tendon sheath, back on March 5 while preparing to play in the World Baseball Classic. He missed the first 53 games of the regular season, made his debut on May 31 and played in 15 games, batting .151 with three home runs and 12 RBIs. He was shut down again 10 days ago because of wrist inflammation, received a cortisone shot, but still hadn't felt any better.
A recent MRI confirmed the tendon sheath had not adequately healed and surgery was necessary. It's expected to be performed early next week.
"Four to five months of rest/rehab, and then the doctor expects me to be 100 percent in six months," Teixeira said, meaning he should be ready by spring training next season.
The 33-year-old has been quite durable during his major league career, averaging 150 games per season in his 10 years prior to 2013. He attributed the injury to overuse.
"It's been no secret that I've spent more time in the batting cage over the last two seasons than I ever have," Teixeira said. "And being a switch hitter, that's double what normal players would put on their wrists, and at some point the overuse just got to me."
But he is not concerned about this being a long-term problem.
"I asked one of [the doctors], once the surgery's done, is there any worry that I'll ever have any more problems? And he said absolutely not," Teixeira said. "So this isn't one of those degenerative conditions in a joint, where you need to worry, you need to kind of protect it the rest of your career. It's a torn tendon sheath, and you gotta fix the torn tendon sheath, and once it's fixed I should be OK."
And he has "no regrets at all" about playing in the WBC and trying to play this season.
"We had a great plan," Teixeira said. "The team suggested that we rehab it. I agreed, I wanted to rehab it, didn't want to have the surgery. I felt pretty good in Tampa, was having good batting practices, simulated games. My first week back with the team was far better than I ever expected -- three home runs and driving the ball. But at some point on the West Coast, I reinjured it.
"I don't know exactly when it happened, but I have no regrets because up until the point I reinjured it, everything was going pretty well."
Lyle Overbay has been Teixeira's primary replacement at first base and is currently hitting .239, with eight home runs and 33 RBIs. Manager Joe Girardi said he plans to continue using Overbay at first base.
"It's tough when you miss players," Girardi said. "No one's gonna feel sorry for you. The guys in that room understand what they need to do. So we gotta go out and get the job done."
General manager Brian Cashman wouldn't rule out acquiring another first baseman.
"Lyle's done a great job for us. But my job always is try to see if we can improve, regardless of position," Cashman said. "If something declares itself as an opportunity that makes sense that we can acquire and get our hands on and the price makes enough sense to us, then we'll obviously have to look at it."