Yankees Mark Teixeira to Retire Following the 2016 Season

Longtime New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira will retire following a difficult 2016 season in which he has struggled through a variety of injuries.

Although his 2015 season ended on a down-note, missing the last month of the season with a fractured shin, Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira came into this spring very optimistic about his future. When he arrived in big league camp this February, he told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News:

"I’d love to play five more years. If you had asked me that when I was coming off wrist surgery, I was pretty honest with you guys. I felt like crap pretty much the entire year in 2014. I didn’t know what the future held for me, but I’ve completely turned that around.My body feels so good, why not play until I’m 40? Being the kind of hitter I am, I can be a DH the last few years of my career, which could really prolong it. I would love to play that long."

That attitude was not surprising given the MVP-caliber performance the 36-year-old first baseman had turned in the previous season. Teixeira hit .255/.357/.548 (143 wRC+) with 31 home runs in 462 plate appearances, a performance that rivaled that of his peak years. This was vintage Tex after two seasons in which he had struggled just to stay on the field.

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Injuries have once again taken their toll this season, and it appears that Mark Teixeira has had enough. He is hitting .198/.287/.340 (69 wRC+) with 10 home runs for the Yankees in 2016, while dealing with neck spasms, a cartilage tear in his knee, and a lingering bone bruise.

According to Buster Olney of ESPN, Mark Teixeira will shortly announce his impending retirement.

It was reported that Teixeira would have a precautionary X-ray Thursday after being hit in the shin with a pitch Wednesday. While it wasn’t expected to be a long-term issue, he was said to be “pretty sore.” These lingering maladies have a habit of piling up on late-career Teixeira, and it may be that they have just become too much to handle.

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With his contract expiring after the season, it was long expected that would mark the end of Mark Teixeira’s eight year Yankees career. He signed an eight year $160 million contract before the 2009 season and was instrumental in carrying New York to a World Series championship that year.

He has hit .249/.345/.481 with 201 home runs in 919 games with the Yankees. According to Baseball-Reference, he has accumulated 20.9 wins above replacement in that time and 52.1 for his career.

Teixeira’s will likely fall just short of Hall of Fame consideration, but he will retire with an impressive collection of hardware. In his career, he has been named to three All Star Games, won three Silver Slugger awards, and took home the Gold Glove award for first base five times. He will almost certainly go down as the premier fielding first baseman of his generation.

He received MVP votes in seven different seasons and finished as the runner-up for the 2009 American League MVP in his first season with the Yankees. While he was sometimes a figure of derision by fans because of the injury problems that plagued him late in his career, Mark Teixeira was a very productive and underrated Yankee during the last eight seasons. He will certainly be missed.

Next: Will Yankees Fans See Clint Frazier in 2016?

See you at Old Timers’ Day Tex.