New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira is headed to the 15-day disabled list due to an MRI showing damage in his right knee.
Mark Teixeira’s production has been brutal thus far in 2016 and now it gets worse. After a second inning groundout last night in Baltimore, he was seen clutching his right knee in the dugout and was removed from the game.Joe Girardi told reporters that the knee “locked up” on Tex. He was sent for an MRI and now the official diagnosis is in. The first baseman has a right knee articular cartilage tear.
Some may not know the severity of this injury being that it tends to vary.
If you trust Wikipedia, Mark Teixeira having an articular cartilage tear seems like a pretty big deal. pic.twitter.com/taFE2LauRF
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) June 4, 2016
According to dartmouth-hitchcock.org, a reputable orthopedic site, “young and active patients (Teixeira, in this case) who are not candidates for knee replacement must find a way to get healing of these injured surfaces with healthy hyaline cartilage to avoid longterm problems with degenerative arthritis.” It goes on to state that “traditional treatments have focused on stimulating the bone at the base of a full thickness cartilage defect by drilling, burring, or microfracturing with a special pick.”
In older patients, knee replacement is required but for Tex, drilling, burring, or microfracturing is his option.
— Christian Kouroupakis (@ckouroupakis) June 4, 2016
Whenever the word “microfracture” is used in any tense in sports, with regards to surgery, you know it cannot be good. Several athletes including Grady Sizemore and Amar’e Stoudemire (NBA) have had their careers severely threatened by the surgery.
One can only speculate how long Teixeira will be sidelined, but early signs indicate he is not coming back anytime soon.
In a corresponding move, the Yankees tranferred Dustin Ackley to the 60-day DL, and selected first baseman Chris Parmelee from Triple-A Scranton in order to sign him to a major league deal.
Teixeira to the DL with right knee articular cartilage tear. #Yankees have added Chris Parmalee to the roster.
— Sweeny Murti (@YankeesWFAN) June 4, 2016
Tex was slashing a dismal .180/.271/.263 with a mere three home runs prior to suffering what could be a substantial, career-threatening blow.
