:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/10950125/20130224_tjg_sv7_324.0.jpg)
A few weeks ago it looked as though Mark Teixeira wouldn't be able to put on pinstripes until the beginning of June. Now that he's a couple days removed from taking off his wrist brace, however, Teixeira is feeling much more optimistic about his recovery time, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:
"My goal [is] to play for the Yankees, I hope, by May 1...
"The doctor will look at me in about 10 days. And if there's no pain going through normal every day movements then I could start swinging the bat."
Kuroda injures finger
The veteran right-hander was pulled after being hit on the pitching hand with a liner Wednesday, but doesn't appear to have anything more than a bruised finger.
Tex maintained that he's not quite out of the woods yet and that surgery is still a real possibility if the partially torn tendon sheath in his right wrist doesn't continue to get better. For the moment, however, the recovery is progressing steadily. If everything stays on course, the switch-hitting first baseman hopes to start swinging the bat again by the middle of the month, which would be in about two weeks.
Teixeira injured his wrist while taking batting practice with a weighted bat prior to an exhibition game with Team USA on March 5. The original recovery timeline given by the Yankees had Tex missing eight to 10 weeks from that point, so the beginning of May falls nicely into that timeframe.
Teixeira hopes to begin his rehab assignment a week before returning to the Bronx, so if a May 1 is truly in the works, look for him to get back on the field by Apr. 24.
