Mark Teixeira to retire after 14 Major League seasons

After 14 Major League seasons, New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has decided to hang up the cleats. 

According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Teixeira will announce his retirement today and will go into effect at the end of the season. The Yankees announced a 3 p.m. eastern press conference with Teixeira but did not give a reason as to why. 

The 36-year-old Teixeira was initially drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2001 MLB Draft. The fifth overall pick was selected out of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. 

It didn’t take long for Teixeira to earn a big league promotion, making the team out of Spring Training in 2003 and appearing in his first game as the designated hitter on April 1, 2003. Teixeira would go on to have a very successful season, hitting 26 home runs and driving in 84 with an .811 OPS. He finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. 

Teixeira would go on to play four-and-a-half seasons with the team that initially drafted him, posting a slash line of .283/.368/.533 while there, being named to an All-Star team and winning two Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers each. 

In 2007, Teixeira was traded to the Braves in a deal that got the Rangers Elivs Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He suited up for 157 games with Atlanta before being dealt to the Angels at the 2008 trade deadline. 

During the 2008-09 offseason, Teixeira became a free agent and cashed in. He signed an eight-year, $180 million contract with the Yankees, leading many to wonder if it was time for a salary cap in baseball. 

“At the rate the Yankees are going, I’m not sure anyone can compete with them,” Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told Bloomberg News in 2008. “Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap.”

Teixeira went on to earn his money the very next season, hitting .292/.383/.565 with 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, both leading the American League en route to the Yankees’ World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Since, the Yankees have seen Teixeira decline, likely due to both age and injuries. He’s posted just a .239/.336/.463 slash line since 2009, averaging 23 home runs and 69 RBIs. Teixeira has battled injuries and has not played 150+ games since the 2011 season. 

In 2016, Teixeira is having the worst season of his career, hitting .198/.287/.340 with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs over 303 plate appearances. With that in mind, it only makes sense that the impending free agent has decided to call it a career. 

Cover Those Bases wishes Teixeira the best of luck in retirement. 

—Devan Fink

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