Brian Cashman has a long list of needs heading to the General Managers Meetings which begin Monday in Orlando, but a first baseman isn’t on it.
Though it had been thought the Yankees may need a caddy for Mark Teixeira next season as the veteran comes back from right wrist surgery, the Yankees GM dispelled that notion.
“I’m looking for a lot of things, but a first baseman isn’t one of them,” Cashman said. “I saw Mark recently and he said he was doing well and seems to be recovering nicely. So there’s no reason to think he can’t be a regular first baseman next season.”
Teixeira is just one of the Yankees coming off a disastrous 2013. He played in just 15 games because of a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist originally suffered during the World Baseball Classic. He opted not to have surgery, which would have knocked him out for the season, and instead returned on May 31.
It seemed like he made the right choice when during a four-game stretch in his first week back he hit three homers.
But the production was short-lived and he played his final game of the year on June 15. He ended up having the surgery in July and expressed optimism he would be fine by spring training.
Cashman is moving forward with that hope.
“He’s supposed to be healthy and that’s our plan,” Cashman said. “I don’t have an exact number of games I expect him to play at first base, but I don’t anticipate him having any issues.”
The Yankees already have enough issues as the offseason heats up between now and the Winter Meetings in December.
Both executives and agents believe it will be a slow start to the offseason with Cano in no rush to sign and Scott Boras representing two of the other top free agent bats on the market, Shin-Soo Choo and Jacoby Ellsbury. Boras has been known to let his clients wait until late in the offseason before making a move.
As for Cashman, he enters the heart of the offseason understanding his team’s needs.
“I’m open to just about anything,” Cashman said. “We’ll see how things develop.”