Big, big news out of New York. The Yankees are going to hold a press conference with Mark Teixeira today at 3pm. It is expected that he will announce his retirement, which will become effective at the end of the season.
Teixeira is in his 14th season in the bigs and, sadly, it’s time for him to hang it up. He’s currently hitting .198/.287.340 with 10 homers and 27 RBI. While he had an effective 2015 in 111 games, this is the second below replacement level season he’s had in two years. His body just can’t hold up to it anymore and his time as an effective player is over. Indeed, it’s highly likely that he would’ve been released by the Yankees this year if it wasn’t for the fact that the organization lost several other first base options to injuries. It’s a testament to Teixeira that he’s played as much as he has, but it’s likewise clear that he is not part of the Yankees future.
For as hard a go Teixeira has had this season, he’ll finish with a pretty nice career overall. At the moment his career batting line is .269/.361/.511, which translates to an OPS+ of 127. He has 404 homers and 1,281 RBI. An excellent first baseman for almost all of his career, he is a five-time Gold Glover and a three-time All-Star. His best season arguably came in 2008, which he split between the Angels and the Braves, hitting .308/.410/.552. I’d assume his most satisfying season, however, was when he helped lead the 2009 Yankees to a World Series title, smacking 39 homers and driving in 122.
Texeira is entitled to a nice goodbye over an unceremonious release. While I’m sure he’d prefer to be going out with better production on a playoff team, his current circumstances and that of the Yankees at least allows him to bow out with grace.
