It was shortly before the General Managers meetings in November when baseball executives and agents started wondering aloud about what the Yankees were going to do for a backup first baseman, with Mark Teixeira coming off right wrist surgery.
Brian Cashman, though, didn’t have similar thinking.
“He’s supposed to be healthy and that’s our plan,” Cashman said at the time. “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 entered the season with third baseman Kelly Johnson, who had all of three career games at first before Opening Day, backing up Teixeira.
Just four games into the season, Teixeira wound up on the disabled list with a hamstring injury suffered in Toronto.
And that left Francisco Cervelli, who had never played first base in the majors, as the new backup first baseman. That didn’t last long, either, as Cervelli — at first because Johnson was needed at third — went down with a significant hamstring injury of his own on Sunday and Carlos Beltran finished the game in his first appearance at first base … ever.
Cervelli was placed on the 60-day disabled list Tuesday and infielder Scott Sizemore and catcher John Ryan Murphy were called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. That still leaves the Yankees with a potential mess in the infield, as Derek Jeter and Brian Roberts battle injuries of their own.
“I wouldn’t say it’s been a worst-case scenario,” Cashman said Tuesday, following the announcement the Yankees’ series opener against the Cubs in The Bronx had been postponed due to inclement weather. “We’ve got Kelly Johnson as a backup and we’ve just had other issues, one of them being Teixeira’s injury. But we’ve adjusted and we’ve dealt with it.”
Still, the Yankees had hoped not to have a repeat of last season, when their roster featured an almost constantly revolving door that injured players and borderline journeymen went through all year.
They aren’t having much luck as they head into Wednesday’s day-night doubleheader against the Cubs.
Jeter is expected to play one of the two games after sitting out with a tight quad on Saturday and Sunday, and Roberts’ back injury isn’t thought to be serious — but he has battled numerous physical issues over the past four seasons.
Cervelli’s Grade 2 right hamstring strain suffered Sunday will cost him at least two months.
“We’ve got depth,” Cashman said. “Whether it’s guys like Dean Anna or [Yangervis] Solarte or Scott Sizemore, we’re covered,” Cashman said. “And we’ve talked a lot about our depth at catcher and we’re taking advantage of that now.”
Sizemore is another infielder who lacks any experience at first base — including in the minors.
While Cashman declined to put a timetable on Teixeira’s return, the first baseman said earlier in the week he planned on being with the team when it traveled to Tampa Bay on Thursday and then back in the lineup when he’s eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday.
He played in just 15 games last season because of the right wrist surgery and has now been hampered by both calf and hamstring woes in the last two years.
The 29-year-old Sizemore is coming back from two surgeries to his left ACL. He suffered the first injury in spring training in 2012 and tore it again in just his second game with Oakland last April.
Since signing with the Yankees in the offseason, Sizemore has hit well and had a .936 OPS in 10 games with SWB. Murphy has struggled at the plate in Triple-A this season. He played 16 games with the Yankees last September.