Mark Teixeira (wrist) out 8-10 weeks

When New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira "felt a pop" in his wrist while swinging off a tee on Tuesday, it was estimated that he would miss at least 10 days.

Not only will miss 10 days, but he will miss much more than that.

Diagnosed with an ECU tendon sprain, Teixeira will miss the next eight to ten weeks, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

It's unclear who will move to first base.  While new addition Kevin Youkilis can play first base, he's filling in at third base for Alex Rodriguez, who will be out until July.

"He provides flexibility," [GM Brian] Cashman said (of Youkilis). "The problem is, if you move Youk, we need someone to play third. Youk can do first, it's a layup, he's great at it. But we'd need a third baseman, that's the problem."

In addition, the Yankees lost Curtis Granderson earlier in spring training to a broken forearm that will sideline him for a 10-week stretch as well.

With the update in status to Teixeira's injury, I've moved him down to No. 17 in my fantasy baseball first basemen ranks.

(Updated) 2012 Fantasy Baseball Preseason Rankings: Top 25 Third Basemen

After missing 20 games in 2010, Miami's Hanley Ramirez missed many more games (70) last year and was one of the biggest disappointments in all of fantasy baseball.

Not only did Ramirez miss almost half of the season, but he struggled when he was on the field. HanRam hit a career-low .243 and it was the first time since 2006 that he hit below .300. Several months into the season (June 20th), Ramirez was hitting only .200.

Now there is plenty of change in Miami.

The team is no longer called the Florida Marlins, Ozzie Guillen is the team's new manager and the addition of free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes means that Ramirez will shift to third.

Believed to not be thrilled about the move, Ramirez has recently said the right things about the transition.

“I never said I’m not going to do it,” Ramirez said, per Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post. “I’m just happy to be here, be back in the spring with my guys, my teammates, everybody’s happy. That’s what we need. We got to stay together through the year. We’re looking good. This is the best team I have been in six years with the Marlins.”

Although he's not initially eligible at third base, Ramirez will be eligible at both shortstop and third base by the middle of April.

Here are some notes on third basemen:

- Despite being walked 100-plus times in each of the past two seasons, Toronto's Jose Bautista has hit 97 home runs during that span and has led the majors in the statistic each season. In fact, there have been only four 40-homer seasons over the past two years and Bautista has two of them. Over the past two seasons, Bautista also has 100-plus runs, 100-plus RBIs and nine steals each season.

- Arizona's Ryan Roberts, who is eligible at second as well as third base, fell just shy of a 20-15 season. Roberts finished the season with 19 home runs and 18 stolen bases, both of which were career highs. Roberts also set career highs in runs scored (86) and runs batted in (65).

- Although he missed almost 30 games and hit a career-low .244, Tampa's Evan Longoria hit 31 home runs, only two shy of his career best set in 2009. Longoria finished last season much better than he started it. Over the past two months, he hit 17 home runs and drove in 46 runs in 55 games.

- Mets third baseman David Wright hit a career-low .255 last year and played his fewest games (102) since his rookie campaign. After five straight seasons hitting .300 or better, Wright has had back-to-back sub-.300 batting averages. Since the Mets moved to Citi Field three seasons ago, Wright has hit a total of only 55 home runs, which works out to one homer in every 27.5 at-bats. While the numbers are bad at Citi Field (32.4 at-bats per HR), they're not great on the road (24.2/HR) during that span either.

- San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval played in only 117 games last year, but he still managed to hit 23 homers, only two shy of the career high he set back in 2009, and drove in 70 runs. After the All-Star break, KungFu Panda hit .325 with 15 home runs and 41 runs batted in over 67 games. Not only is Sandoval eligible at third base, but he is first base eligible as well.

- With Baltimore's Mark Reynolds, you know exactly what you're getting. He's going to simultaneously help you (home runs) and hurt you (batting average). Since 2008, only four players have hit more home runs than Reynolds (141): Albert Pujols (163), Ryan Howard (157), Prince Fielder (150) and Mark Teixeira (144). However, no player has struck out more than Reynolds (834) during that span.

- In his 43 games last year, Toronto's Brett Lawrie gave fantasy owners a sample of what he can do -- hit for power and average and steal bases. The former first-round pick (2008) hit .293 with nine home runs, 25 runs batted in and seven steals.

- Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has not played more than 138 games in any of the past four seasons and played his fewest (99 games) last year since 1995. It was also the first time that A-Rod failed to reach 30 home runs or 100 runs batted in since 1995. Considering he turns 37 in July, it's risky to bank on Rodriguez staying healthy enough to reach 140 games for the first time since 2007.

Here are our top 25 third basemen for the 2012 season:

1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
2. Evan Longoria, Rays
3. David Wright, Mets
4. Adrian Beltre, Rangers
5. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
6. Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays
7. Pablo Sandoval, Giants
8. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
9. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
10. Michael Young, Rangers
11. Aramis Ramirez, Brewers
12. David Freese, Cardinals
13. Ryan Roberts, Diamondbacks
14. Mark Reynolds, Orioles
15. Martin Prado, Braves
16. Mike Moustakas, Royals
17. Lonnie Chisenhall, Indians
18. Pedro Alvarez, Pirates
19. Emilio Bonifacio, Marlins
20. Chase Headley, Padres
21. Chipper Jones, Braves
22. Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays
23. Daniel Murphy, Mets
24. Danny Valencia, Twins
25. Placido Polanco, Phillies

Other Positions: C - 1B - 2B - 3B - SS - OF - SP - RP

To keep track of our updates, follow us on Twitter @EDSBaseball and/or LIKE us on Facebook.

Alex Rodriguez to have knee surgery Monday, out 4-6 weeks

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will have surgery on Monday to repair his torn meniscus, per Peter Botte of the NY Daily News.

Rodriguez will miss the next 4-to-6 weeks while recovering from the surgery.

Although he considered playing through the injury, which initially occurred on June 19th, it makes more sense to get it taken care of now.

"Absolutely. That's what I would say, if you're going to have the surgery, let's get it done as soon as possible so some of the off-days you're having are during the (All-Star) break," [manager Joe] Girardi said. "If he decided not to have the surgery, we've seen how it's kind of affected him up to this point."

This means Rodriguez will have landed on the disabled list in four consecutive seasons.

A-Rod hasn't hit a home run in his past 85 at-bats, which is the longest drought of his career.

On the season, Rodriguez is hitting .295 with 13 home runs and 52 runs batted in.

Alex Rodriguez left game in 6th inning, status for Sunday unclear

In today's win over the Rangers, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez left the game in the sixth inning due to lower back and oblique stiffness.

And it's unclear whether he'll be able to play Sunday or not.

“We’ll see how I wake up,” Rodriguez said, per Zach Berman of the Newark Star-Ledger. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but hopefully I wake up much better and the weather helps.”

“I’ll listen to him, I’ll listen to our doctors and our trainers about him and if he’s stiff tomorrow, he probably won’t play,” manager Joe Girardi said. “But if he comes in tomorrow and says he’s ready to go, I’ll talk to the trainers and the doctors and see what they think.”

With the Yankees being off on Monday, it may make sense to rest him Sunday and play it safe.

Off to a great start, Rodriguez has hit safely in all 12 games and is currently hitting .385 with four home runs and nine runs batted in.

Manny Ramirez retires due to drug 'issue'

After failing a second drug test, Rays designated hitter Manny Ramirez has decided to retire rather than appeal or face a 100-game suspension as a repeat offender.

Ramirez would have been the first player suspended 100 games.

Instead of notifying the Rays directly, Ramirez, who wasn't with the team today, notified the league, who issued the following statement (via MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez):

"Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program. Rather than continue with the process under the program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the drug program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter."

To take the roster spot vacated by Ramirez, the Rays have called up first baseman Casey Kotchman.

On the season, Ramirez was off to a rough start (like most of the Rays, who scored a league-worse eight runs in their first six games): one hit in 17 at-bats.

But as ESPN's Stats & Info blog points out via Twitter, Ramirez is one of only five players in Major League history to have hit .300-plus and 550-plus home runs for his career. The other four are Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.

Is Manny a Hall of Famer? Let the debate start now ...

From Mr. April to Mr. October?

Of course, that's a little bit of an exaggeration.

But Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who has previously been dubbed "Mr. April," is continuing his hot streak this post-season.

In five post-season games (all wins), A-Rod is hitting .368 (7 hits in 19 at bats) with three home runs and eight runs batted in.

He only had one hit last night, but it was an 11th-inning home run.

Before the 2009 post-season, Rodriguez was hitting .279 with 10 home runs (in 166 ABs) and 25 RBIs in 44 career post-season games.

For Yankee fans to fully embrace him, A-Rod needs to continue his hot streak, or at least play well, for the remainder of the post-season. For many Yankees' fans, the season will only be deemed a success if it ends with a World Series ring.

But it really only takes one strong post-season to remove the non-clutch tags. Just ask Peyton Manning. Manning had that tag for what seemed like forever until he and the Colts beat the Bears in the Super Bowl. Now it's never mentioned.

Two days off for A-Rod

Citing "fatigue," Yankee skipper Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman decided to give third baseman Alex Rodriguez two days of rest, per Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News.

A-Rod sat Friday and will sit Saturday as well.

"We just feel that he's fatigued and that he could use a little blow," Girardi said. "We talked about giving him one day off and we were thinking about doing it tomorrow, but after we slept on it, talked about it and discussed it, we're going to give him two days off."

Not surprisingly, A-Rod called it "a great disappointment." Rodriguez, who grew up in Miami, has never played a regular-season game in Miami.

Rodriguez, who was going to leave around 100 tickets, told his mother to stay home and "save on gas money."

He has gone hitless in his last 15 at bats and has only two hits in his last 21 at bats.

Yankees dominate Rangers 11-1

The Yankees have now won 13 of their past 17 games with their 11-1 victory over the Rangers.

Former Rangers Alex Rodriguez went 5-for-5 with four RBI and Mark Teixeira went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Teixeira continues to feed off having A-Rod in the lineup to protect him.

Phil Hughes picked up his third win of the season by pitching eight scoreless innings. Hughes only threw 101 pitches.

He allowed three hits and only one walk while striking out six batters.

Joe Saunders says A-Rod's All-Star days are "over"

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Joe Saunders is no fan of Alex Rodriguez (or Manny Ramirez).

Of A-Rod's future as an All-Star, "it's over for him," Saunders said.

"I think the fans do care," Saunders said. "Pretty much everybody wants a game without cheating."

Perhaps with Evan Longoria being as good as he is and many fans (and Saunders) hating A-Rod, the days of A-Rod being penciled in during spring training as the A.L. All-Star starting third baseman may be over.

But the number of players that have "cheated" the game is too large to single out specific players. A-Rod will be an All-Star in 2010.

A-Rod homers on first pitch, Sabathia pitches shutout

Tonight the Yankees got just what they needed.

Third baseman Alex Rodriguez returned and played his first game of the year. On the first pitch he saw, he hit the 97-mph pitch for a three-run homerun, which was all the Yankees would need tonight.

According to ESPN, since A-Rod joined the Yankees in 2004, he has hit .435 with two home runs and nine RBIs in five games.

While the bullpen has struggled lately, the Yankees didn't have a need to go to the bullpen.

C.C. Sabathia pitched a complete-game shutout and allowing only four hits on 112 pitches.

A-Rod slides for first time

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will be back on Friday. Unless he won't.

Initially, it was expected that A-Rod would make a return this Friday at Baltimore. But it's not "100 percent" certain.

Manager Joe Girardi said: "I'm not going to say 100 percent he's not going to be here -- or he is going to be here."

For the first time, Rodriguez slid during an extended spring training game. And he says "the slide was good...I feel good."

Rodriguez is scheduled to play six innings tomorrow.

More A-Roids than he admitted?

When New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez admitted that he took steroids, many feel into two groups.

One credited him for admitting more than they'd expected him to admit. The other (larger) group continued to bash A-Rod (or A-Fraud or A-Roid or whatever they called him) and believed he wasn't telling the full truth.

So, not surprisingly for many, new allegations have surfaced.

Per SI's Selena Roberts' new book (due out May 12), via the New York Daily News, Rodriguez continued to use steroids when he was in New York and also used them as early as his teenage years.

Per the report, a major leaguer said A-Rod and Kevin Brown were together with HGH in 2004.

Two anonymous Yankees believed he was taking performance-enhancing drugs based on the side effects they had seen. In fact, teammates called him "Bitch Tits" because of his rounded pecs.

Also, a clubhouse employee said that Yankees' management wondered about his usage as well.

"No one ever asked Alex directly that I know of, but there was a lot of suspicion in house," the employee is quoted as saying.

Not only is A-Rod accused of using steroids at times to which he did not admit, Roberts' book accuses him of "pitch tipping."

In other words, when the game was out of reach, he would signal to friends what pitch was coming and they would return the favor.

Could A-Rod be back this month?

Excluding his hip injury, New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez had a horrible off-season. And the superlative "horrible" was probably an understatement.

There was the Yankee Years book by Joe Torre that referred to him as A-Fraud, the leaked report about his steroid usage and then the link to the Manhattan Madame.

After the steroid scandal, which was close to spring training, A-Rod talked about how he was looking forward to the escape and diversion of just playing baseball.

Instead, he injured his hip and underwent surgery on it on March 9th. The initial prognosis was that he would miss six to nine weeks.

A-Rod "feels 70 percent" and there is a chance that he could be back on the field by the end of this month.

"Everything is going well," Cashman said. "He's working extremely hard. Everything is going as planned."

Rodriguez is a career .306 hitter with 553 homeruns, 1606 runs batted in and stole 283 bases.

A-Rod and Spitzer have Manhattan Madam in common

Question: What do disgraced former N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Alex "A-Rod" Rodriquez share in common?

Answer: Manhattan Madam Kristin Davis.

According to Davis, she dated A-Rod, who was also a client of her high-scale prostitution ring.

"Throughout the years, there were a number of clients that I befriended and it was not uncommon for them to want the women they can't have whether it be the phone bookers or the madam," Davis said.

"In regard to Alex, all I can say is our paths have definitely crossed personally and professionally."

Davis received five years probation and served three months in jail after copping a plea.

For A-Rod, the penalties in the court of public opinion are going to be steep. If he thought that his steroid-usage admission lifted a huge burden off his back, those care-free days were short-lived.

From "A-Rod" to "A-Fraud" to "A-Roid"

According to SI.com, NY Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, his last season with the Texas Rangers.

The tests in 2003 were supposed to remain anonymous and were intended to determine whether or not the league needed to test for performance-enhancing drugs on a mandatory basis.

A-Rod appears on a list of 104 players that tested positive in 2003.

"This is a mess," one Rodriguez associate told the Daily News. "I'm not sure how he's going to take this. He's never had to deal with anything like this before."

Larry Bowa, who was the Yankees third-base coach, was surprised by the report.

"I'm shocked, I really am," said Bowa. "He's the last guy I would've thought would've done anything. Hopefully, this is a mistake."

Mistake? Yeah, he got caught.

Jose Canseco wasn't surprised as he had called out A-Rod in his book.

"I may not have seen [A-Rod] do the deed, but I set the whole thing up for him, just like he wanted. I saw the changes in his body in a short time," Canseco wrote. "Hell, if you ask me, I did everything but inject the guy myself."

A-Rod had previously told Katie Couric that he never took nor was tempted to take performance-enhancing drugs.

However, when asked about the failed steroids test, A-Rod wasn't talking.

"You have to talk to the union," Rodriguez said. "I'm not saying anything."

A-Rod, who is so concerned with his image, has seen his image get battered in the past month by Joe Torre's book and now the SI report.

I'm interested to see whether he lets the damage to how he's perceived destroy his 2009 season. Or if he puts aside his obsession with his image since it's already destroyed and finally just plays baseball, in which case he might have a monster year.

I think it will be a feast or (more likely) famine year for Rodriguez, who has 553 career homeruns and ranks 12th all-time.

Joe Torre shocked at reaction to his book

Joe Torre is shocked by the reaction to his book, "The Yankee Years."

Torre hopes David Wells, who called Torre a "punk" for the tell-all book, will "get a different perspective" if he reads the whole book.

In his book, Torre says: "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

Not sure what else he needs to read Joe.

Wells believes that A-Rod (called A-Fraud in Torre's book) will be affected by the comments regardless of what A-Rod says. And I couldn't agree more with Wells.

"A-Rod says that he's not worried about it, but deep down, you can't help but think, 'Why did this guy say something? Why is he making these remarks?'"

"Now you're gonna go on the road during the season, you're gonna get bashed by every fan out there. Especially in New York, if you have a bad game, [then it's] 'Joe was right.'

As talented of a player as A-Rod is, no player is more concerned with his image and how he is perceived.

One of the things I admired about Torre was his ability to keep things in house. While I would have preferred that he didn't write the book and took the high road, my opinion of Torre doesn't change much because he wrote the book.

But to act surprised by the reaction? He's either an idiot for being surprised. Or he thinks everyone else is an idiot that would believe he's surprised.