I wrote yesterday about the excitement of watching Ivan Nova throw off of the mound and in today’s news there is more excitement. Mark Teixeira reported to camp down 15 pounds of fat and up 13 pounds of muscle. He contributes his new frame and health to his new diet which was implemented by his new trainer in the offseason. Tex cut out all sugar, dairy, and gluten from his diet and is reportedly in much better health this season. He hopes to be a major factor for the New York Yankees.
Ryan Hatch’s article for NJ.com discusses Tex’s most recent interview in which he commented on his new physique. Tex said, “When I told my trainer I had three cortisone shots in my wrist and two in my back, he goes, ‘Sounds like you have a lot of inflammation in your body.’ We tackled tackled all those things and got myself really strong. I was weaker than I had probably been in my entire career last year.”
It is no secret that Texeira is on the decline and his recent numbers were everything opposite of what is expected from him. According to baseball-reference.com the 34-year old only appeared in 123 games in 2014 and 15 games in 2013. His .216/.313/.398 slash line in 2014 was a black hole for $22 million in cap space.
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Hopefully Tex can stay healthy and provide more than defense this season. He told reporters his goals for this season are 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s. I love to be an optimist but that is being delusional to expect Tex to put up numbers that he hasn’t come near since 2011. However, Girardi feels the opposite way than I do and told reporters, “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Beyond his health Tex is staying positive about the season as a whole. He commented on his excitement in potentially training Alex Rodriguez at first base. “It’s funny, I was a rookie (2003) when Alex was the best player in the world and he got to teach me some things, and now I’m going to be able to teach him some things at first,” Teixeira said.
If Arod does learn first base then it could help Tex stay healthy with scheduled off days. Arod would be yet another option at the corner with Garrett Jones. “We have the talent in here,” Teixeira said. “There are a lot of teams that would love to have our roster right now.” Let’s hope his optimism carries forward into the season and helps the Yankees overcome any obstacles.
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