WHY WE LOVE TEX

I remember right before Christmas I heard the announcement. The Yankees snagged away Mark Teixeira from the evil Red Sox and the Yankees looked amazing in the winter of 2008 going into the holiday and looking forward to 2009. After all, they also signed CC and AJ that winter. But Mark Teixeira was a great signing. This was a guy that hit for power and hit for average and was and still is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball. The contract is still ridiculous to this day, 8 years, $180 million. But that doesn’t matter, we’ve already won 1 championship with Mark at first and we all know there is more to come.

His defense has been so key to the New York Yankees over the past 2 years. Something we didn’t have once Tino Martinez left and Jason Giambi arrived. And say what you will about which defensive play was the greatest for Mark. For me presonally, there is 1 play that will
forever stick out in my mind. It was both athletic and reactionary. Game 4 of the ALCS last year, a hard grounder toward first, the bat shattered and went in the same direction as the ball. Teixeira was able to dodge the sharp bat barrel which was flying toward him and snag the ball to make the out. How can you do that with such grace? Mark did. It will forever by my favorite defensive moment from Mark Teixeira, that is until he blows me away again in 2011.

Tex is a slow starter, we’ve seen it for years, but he picks it up by June and usually is up to .290 by the end of the season. Last year, it was slow going for Mark, he struggled a bit but his hits were still solid. Blame it on a bad season, a broken toe, bruised thumb and alittle bad luck. My favorite Tex hit you ask? Of course it was Game 2 of the ALDS, 2009. Tex cranked that wall scrapper into the left field stands in the 11th inning giving them a 4-3 win over the Twins. Truly heroic.

The hardest part for Mark last year was the hamstring strain he suffered that knocked him out of the ALCS. That cemented the Yankees end in 2010, but the good thing is, he feels good this winter and he’ll be back. He says he’ll be full strength by February, just in time for Spring Training.
Tex said: “It actually worked out great because I spent the first month of the off-season, which is usually an active rest period for me… I took that month as my rehab month and then once December 1st came I was lifting weights and running full speed.”

So what can we expect from Tex in 2011? Quality. For 1 thing, Mark is only 30 years old, and while 2010 was not exactly one of his best seasons with a .256 Batting Average, he did have over 100 RBI’s with 108 and had 33 Home Runs. Just imagine what he would have been at full strength.

2011 will be more of the same for Tex, a slow start, partially because a hamstring is something you don’t want to mess with, so he may take it alittle easy starting out, but that’s what Spring Training is for. The goal is for him to be full strength by March 31st. Look for Mark to hit a solid .300 this year, and I will bet his homeruns will be the most as a New York Yankee. In 2009 he had 39. In 2010 he had 33, again, that was with a bruised thumb and broken toe. In 2011, I expect 43 home runs, matching his career total from 2005 when he was with Texas. Mark Teixeira will be back and larger than life next season, make no bones about it.

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