Mark Teixeira was not cleared to swing a bat on Friday

Via Matt Ehalt: Mark Teixeira was not cleared by doctors to swing a bat on Friday as he had hoped. “[The doctor] was very happy with how it looked, how it felt,” said Tex. “He wants it to get a little stronger before I swing so the next couple of days I’m really going to ramp up the strengthening because we’re kind of going week to week with it … He wants to make sure it’s really strong enough before I swing. But all good news, just not swinging yet.”

Teixeira, 33, hoped to start swinging a fungo bat this weekend and then take batting practice within two weeks. His May 1st target return date was always on the optimistic side — the original 8-10 week estimate put him on pace for a mid-to-late-May return — so I’m not sure this changes much. Sure, it would have been great for Teixeira to start swinging a bat this weekend, but I’d rather see them be extra cautious now and reduce the risk of a setback later in the summer. Given the nature of the injury, they need to make sure he’s 100% ready for any steps going forward.