Update: Yankees call up Romine, place Teixeira on 15-day DL

April 5, 2014 by Mike Axisa 48 Comments

11:07am: As expected, Teixeira has been placed on the 15-day DL. Joe Girardi confirmed it isn’t a bad strain, but enough that they don’t want to play shorthanded.

11:05am: The Yankees have called up Austin Romine, meaning Mark Teixeira and his stained right hamstring are likely headed to the DL. Frankie Cervelli will reportedly work out at first base along with Kelly Johnson.

Winter

Any reason why it’s Romine over Murphy?
- Bavarian Yankee
  
  probably just to give Murphy regular playing time.
- robert lucarelli
  
  my guess is they want murphy to play everyday. Won’t be able to do that with the big league club
- MPierce
  
  Probably just for in case of emergency and don’t expect Romine to play much, if at all. If this is more than a 15-Day thing, might be worth moving McCann to first base and let Murphy catch regularly, though I think they’ll probably have Cervelli do that.
- ALZ
  
  Because it is a 3rd catcher. Odds are he won’t play at all, so why bring up your better prospect?
robert lucarelli

for whatever it’s worth. and my opinion means nothing..I like having cervelli play first base….be nice to see him get some regular ABs…knowing girardi he will probably platoon them at first and go with solarte everyday
- Yankee$
  
  I like this too. I put it out there yesterday on the Tex injury thread. The bat (Cervelli) looks good and he has played some infield. Also, big one here, the yanks will be trading some catching over the next season or two and this is another way to get Cervelli’s value moving higher.
stuckey

Even if Cervelli gets some starts at first, he’ll still be the BUC.

Romine might never get an AB during the 15 days. He’ll strictly be the emergency BUC.
Jersey Joe

I know that not every player can play 1st base at the drop of a dime, but for now I think it would be best to put Ichiro in the outfield, and preserve Beltran by putting him at first with Soriano at DH. Against lefties, I’d be fine with Solarte pushing KJ to 1B.
- BFDeal
  
  Asking Beltran to play a position he’s never played before is not the ideal way to preserve him.
Dicka24

Nunez and Claiborne for Ike Davis. Think that’s enough to get a deal done? Assuming the Yankees were to acquire Davis, they’d have to open up a spot on the 40 man anyway, so a 2 for 1 would make sense. The Pirates have Vin Mazzaro in DFA limbo, and have been linked to Davis as well. I can’t imagine the Mets will give Davis away, but by the same token, I’m not sure what they expect him to bring in.
- Dalek Jeter
  
  As for Davis, http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/04/mets-still-want-to-trade-ike-davis.html
  
  I’m not sure a backup infielder who has been DFA’d and a bullpen guy who was probably right behind Nunez on the list of players to DFA count as “something.”
  
  Also, glass half full, Tex only misses the 15 days and comes back healthy, what do we do with Davis? He isn’t exactly versatile out there. Our bench may not have any pop, but they can all play multiple positions and I’d hate to lose any of them for a bad offensive 1st baseman.
  - Sweet Dick Willie
    
    Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
    
    Taking Nunez and Claiborne in exchange for Davis is pretty much the definition of giving Davis away.
  - Dan
    
    The bottom line is they have no organizational depth at first base and Mark Teixeira is a clear injury risk going forward under the contract. Plus next year, with Soriano, Ichiro, and Jeter gone, they’ll need help at DH. So why not get Ike Davis, who still has upside and power and could use a change of scenery? He’d seem to be at least okay in the short term (he still has options left once Tex gets healthy), and in the long term he can get regular ABs between first and DH.
    
    The organizational depth is atrocious, if the worst case is having Ike Davis at AAA this year, then they should go after him.
    - Dalek Jeter
      
      There will be plenty of people to take ABs at DH next year. Off the top of my head, Tex, A-Rod, McCann, and Beltran will all get at least 50% of the DH ABs between the four of them.
      - Dan
        
        But Tex is a major injury risk. And there’s a very real chance that A-Rod won’t be on the team. Stick Ike in AAA anyway. It improves the organization as a whole.
      - Dan
        
        I mean, do you feel comfortable penciling Tex in for more than 120 games per year over the remainder of the contract? How about 140? There’s a very clear need for a legitimate backup first baseman.
    - Dan
      
      Obviously, this doesn’t mean Claiborne and Nova can get the deal done.
Dalek Jeter

While I’m sad/upset that Tex is hurt and on the DL, I’m happy that the Yankees made the move quickly. The past two seasons they seemed completely content to play with a shortened roster for 3 or 4 games before putting an injured player on the DL. I don’t love that they called Romine up…but I guess that Canzler isn’t on the 40 man?
- Chip Rodriguez
  
  Canzler doesn’t seem to be on the 40 man.
  
  http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=nyy
  
  Hope Gazoo can get acquainted with a 1B glove quickly.
  - Dalek Jeter
    
    Here’s also hoping Tex only misses the minimum 15 days. They have 14 games in those 15 days and play the next 9 consecutive days…but it’s early in the season so hopefully McCann only needs a day or two off over that span and Cervelli can catch while KJ plays 1st those days. (In fact, while Solarte is on fire, I’d keep starting him at 3rd and KJ at first w/ Cervelli BUC and backup 1st baseman.)
capitalT

Canzler has to be thinking WTF? Why did I sign here.
- Dalek Jeter
  
  The only logical conclusion is he isn’t on the 40 man, and he probably knew exactly what he was signing up for. I mean he’s a career minor leaguer at this point. (I have no idea if he actually is, but I feel like dude’s been around forever.)
- stuckey
  
  Well, there’s the 15 day DL and the 60 day.
  
  He probably signed up knowing the latter would have to be a factor.
- Preston
  
  It definitely seemed like Canzler or Sizemore were the obvious choices. I don’t hate the idea of Cervelli playing some 1b though.
http://www.twitter.com/_swarlesbarkley Mark Teixeira – Ghostbuster (formerly Drew) RIP Egon

Lets hope that Solarte can keep hitting for the next 15 days. Having KJ and be the 1B for that amount of time works but not for much longer. The if anyone else needs a day Anna is the regular and I guess Cervelli is the emergency IF then. Yikes. Who would have thought that having little IF depth would bite the Yankees in ass, AMIRITE?
Andrew j

Can Stephen drew play 1st base?
- Dalek Jeter
  
  I laughed, but really not sure if serious with the love Drew has gotten here the last couple months.
Andrew j

If kj can why not drew?
CONservative governMENt

Teixeira is a guy I was ecstatic to get but, like Giambi before him, came to NY and was a shell of what he was. At least Giambi stayed on the field.

With Teixeira, Pujols, Fielder, Howard why would anyone ever sign a long-term big-money free agent 1B again?
- Stratocaster
  
  Haha. Hide and watch! It’ll happen.
- Dalek Jeter
  
  Freddie Freeman giggles to himself.
- Kosmo
  
  Giambi missed two half seasons of baseball in 2004 and 2007.
- Dalek Jeter
  
  Giambi didn’t exactly stay on the field though, as Kosmo pointed out he missed large chunks of time…and when he was on the field defensively he was a DH wearing a 1B-man’s glove.
  - Kosmo
    
    There was a 1B in the early 60´s Dick Stuart who was referred to as Dr. Strangeglove, I think the name would also apply to Giambi.
    - Darren
      
      Not that I’m disagreeing, but just to break it down a little more, Giambi was above average at scooping balls in the dirt. He was atrocious at throwing to second. He had very little range. Average footwork.
- CashmanNinja
  
  I wouldn’t say Tex was a shell of his former self. He hit 30+ homers his first 3 years (2 of which were 39). His first season he hit nearly .300. I agree that his play slipped; the averaged dipped down and he didn’t get on base as much as expected, but he also managed to play very solid defense until injuries took over. I’m hoping he rebounds, but there’s no denying that he’s on the downside of his career. I do find it rather baffling how teams would keep investing *so* much into guys on that are so close to 30 (or on the wrong side of it). Cano got big money, A-Rod got big money, Miguel Cabrera got big money. I just don’t see why teams would give these huge contracts to players that are older. Teams act as if they have ZERO leverage. The Yankees were rather desperate though and decided to go all in with that free agent class (just like this season). I’d still do the Tex signing 10 times out of 10 because without him we wouldn’t have won the World Series a few years ago.
  - Kosmo
    
    Yes NY was desperate and Tex was a great player circa 2008 and he also let it be known he desired to play for NY.
    He could also rebound this year so I´m not going to write him off quite yet.
  - adjusts batting gloves
    
    The steroid era gave the impression that players had learned to cheat the ageing process, and not in every case through ped usage. GMs had no reason to think that superstar players couldn’t be productive well into their late 30s. The Pujols contract is strange, since he signed after mlb made it clear that they were cracking down on all sorts of fountain of youth products, steroidal or otherwise… But the legacy of the late 1990s made it seem like power hitters could remain valuable to their teams for a long time. in no way am i implying that. Tex or Howard or Pujols were users, only that they benefited from Mlb’s previously permissive culture, b/c teams expected longevity, or believed that older players could always turn to an array of semilegal products to prolong their careers, if they chose, without sanctions, as in the case of Bonds, McGwire, etc.
LarryM. Fl

As I mentioned in prior comment sections from ST to the season start. My big concern about this team is the infield defense. As would occur, our best defensive infielder gets hurt. I hope this not the beginning of a frustrating year for Teix.with leg injuries. There is little chance of a further injury when the hamstrings start barking. Some players just are predisposed to these injuries ala Reyes and Teixeria apparently.
Mike

Minor injury. We still have a great lineup.
http://www.penuel-law.com/ Cuso

Is there a game thread?
EndlessJose

This is what the Yankees get for not giving Mark Reynolds a minor league deal.Like Russell Martin this will bite them in the @$$.

The Yankees with this bullpen and infield took a lot of risks and this is what happens.
fred robbins

Tex is a pussy and between him and CC the Yankees have close to 50 million dollars of worthless players taking the field. At least with CC, it only costs them once every 5 or 6 days depending on the schedule, but with Tex, they would probably be better off without him.

It seems now even his great defense is slipping… two errors already, costing runs in both games.

Would any team even pick him up if he was placed on waivers? And any trade would only be made if the Yankees paid most of his salary.
so typical…

But really nice to see Elsbury have a great game. Hope it continues.
- your mom
  
  If I was getting 22 million a year I’d have no problem being a pussy.
Slu

The Yankees need to admit Tex is made of glass. Having nobody capable of filling in at first for extended periods is now inexcusable. This must be corrected before this happens again. Assuming Tex even comes back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses most of the season again.
Pasqua

Anybody else think Romine got the call so that McCann can be in the lineup everyday with Tex out? Seems smart – playing C or DH, you’ll have depth at the position no matter what and Mac can keep hitting.
Dave Guarnieri

Kendrys Morales on a 1 year $6million? You’d have to deal with Boras and Morales is not good defensively. You can’t give up on Tex as he has 3 years and has a ton of money owed to him (like the guy who played 3rd base for the Yanks). I would assume though, that both Tex and AROD’s contracts are insured??