Tex to visit doctors; threat of surgery lingers

NEW YORK -- The Yankees are bracing for the possibility of more bad news for injured first baseman Mark Teixeira, who was sent to have his right wrist evaluated by team doctors on Tuesday and could be facing season-ending surgery.

Teixeira has not responded well to a cortisone injection that was administered on June 16 to alleviate inflammation in his wrist, which has limited him to just 15 games this season.

"He's not doing anything," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's seeing the doctors today, and we'll go from there. I'm concerned. I said before that it's tricky; what he had was a tricky injury. I'm concerned about it."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has said that Teixeira was given a 70 percent chance of avoiding season-ending surgery when he partially tore the tendon sheath in his wrist while preparing for the World Baseball Classic with Team USA in March.

"You want someone that's feeling great," Cashman said in a telephone interview on Monday. "They've never taken surgery off the table. It's always been obviously the worst-case scenario, but I'm not here to tell you anything about that yet."

After missing the first two months of the season, Teixeira returned to the Yankees' lineup on May 31, batting .151 (8-for-53) with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 15 games.

"It's tough not having him, but we were able to win the first month without him," Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said. "When we don't have him, our goal is still to go out there and win."

Teixeira, a switch-hitter, has said that the injury affects him most from the left side of the plate.

Teixeira, Girardi and Cashman have all rejected the suggestion that Teixeira could play out the remainder of the season as a part-time player against left-handed pitching.

Girardi said on Tuesday that he was not sure what type of diagnosis he should expect to hear from the doctors attending to Teixeira.

"I think we'll probably find out more today at some point," Girardi said.