TEIXEIRA WILL INDEED BE BACK!

If I could have one wish, just one....it wouldn't be a new car, a big house or any other materialistic item right now. If I could have a wish granted it would be to not hear the words "disabled list" or "injury" or "day-to-day." Throw in any other synonym and that also applies. There has been a lot of news lately about our guys. Some good news, and some not so good news. Personally, I am still sitting back and waiting to hear something encouraging about Mark Teixeira. A lot of people I know say he is done, and that he is not coming back and that he isn't important anyway. I say not so fast.

I know some people may not be big Tex fans, but I am. I admit, I may be slightly biased because he is easily one of my favorites. As much as I do like him I know he isn't perfect. Tex has some imperfections including how prone he has been to injury, but he has always been resilient and he has always been a big contributor for this team. He's not getting any younger and he even admitted that, read MARK TEIXEIRA'S QUOTE OF THE DAY but I think the age and the injury argument isn't true for everyone. I'm not so quick to count him out despite how much this injury affects him and the team. Tex wants to be out there, and he wants to play. Tex wanted to be out on the field again by May 1st but that isn't going to happen. As much as I was hoping it was possible even I knew it wasn't realistic. Let's face it, sometimes the expectation of a timetable doesn't always work out. It didn't happen for Derek Jeter either, but we don't doubt that he will be back in action when he is ready so we will just wait for Tex too.

(In Photo: Lyle Overbay)
It's still weird to look in the dugout and see the news faces, and think about who is no longer around or who is out because of those words I mentioned earlier that I wish would disappear. Sure, we have been fine without some of our big bats. The loss of Tex is no exception. You have to give Lyle Overbay a lot of credit because he has done well for us offensively and defensively. Maybe that is why I have heard some people say that he has done so well for us that we don't need Tex back. We can just use Overbay and move on, but he has one other thing in common with the rest of that dugout. He also happens to be another left handed hitter.

Now that Nick Swisher is also gone we are missing that switch hitting player who can give the opposing team a headache. Right now, there aren't enough hitters to break up all of these lefties. It also makes it very easy for the opposing team to just throw left handed pitchers in against us at an time. Just having Tex in the lineup adds more strategy and the fact that he can hit long balls from either side of the plate doesn't hurt either.

Speaking of offense, Tex gives the team a lot of it. Sure, he is prone to his pop ups and he hits into the shift a lot but when he doesn't do that he is good at driving in runs and hitting home runs. During the off season we lost a lot of offense and let's face it Robinson Cano can't drive in the runs by himself. We need guys who can put the ball in play when guys are on base. With Tex you have to take the good with the bad. There will be plenty of times that he misses an opportunity but if you look at his power numbers and RBIs those are always there at the end of the year. He isn't going to hit for average anymore but at the end of the year he will be productive. From 2009 to 2011 he has over 100 RBIs and more than 30 home runs ever year and I am willing to bet he would've had the same production last year if it weren't for that nagging cough and prolonged injury. I don't see him hitting those numbers again thanks to this injury, but I still think he can be productive.

Tex is important to this team. There are few first basemen out there who can match him both offensively and defensively. He gives this team a serious advantage. When he is healthy he will give us extra run support and save us runs as well. The team is doing well without him now, but when you add his bat back into the lineup I believe this team is going to take off and play at a higher level. Don't count Tex out yet, because he will be back and he will breathe new life into this team.

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ


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