Mark Teixeira????

[superslugger616]

What the hell is taking this guy so long to do anything spectacular? i drafted him first round and hes been putting up nothing but mediocre numbers. What are any thoughts on him and whether hes gonna pick it up and start performing like he shud?

[NolascoForGod]

He's been a huge bust so far this season.....but the odd thing is the Rangers are winning....if they weren't it would all be pinned on him, but right now he's not feeling any pressure to perform so he's not trying to change anything

[rentz]

whats funny is teixiera's avg is higher right now than it usually is...but his power numbers are slightly down....he's not all that far off from last year. michael youngs hr numbers are down too.

personally i think a lot of it has to do with them getting almost no atbats all spring training. im betting that by the end of july tex starts heating up and turning into his old self.

[pepperoncino]

i'm still not really worried about him...he's hitting right at .300, so that shows you he's not really struggling. strange that the power numbers aren't there, but i can't imagine he won't start hitting more balls out of the park soon.

[rentz]

i'm still not really worried about him...he's hitting right at .300, so that shows you he's not really struggling. strange that the power numbers aren't there, but i can't imagine he won't start hitting more balls out of the park soon.

soon all those doubles will turn into hr's im sure of it.

[win it all]

Wait till summer when the ball starts flying out of that ball park

[NatsFan10]

His average is higher than normal, and he's on pace to hit a lot more doubles than he usually does.

Who knows what will happen, but i'm willing to bet that those doubles will starting turning into homeruns once the summer heats up.

[Secret Avatar]

The "wait until the summer warms up" is lame, dudes. Tex hit for power right from April last year. Beyond that, it's already mid-June. It's HOT in Texas right now, I can assure you.

What is wrong with Tex? The answer is . . . I don't know. He could just be having a down year for power, or nursing one of those minor injuries that are never disclosed. Or he could just be in a very extended power slump. As was pointed out above, Mike Young has not hit for power either.

My best guesstimate: Tex and Mike Young are getting pitched around much more than they did last year. Tex already has more intentional walks than he did in all of 2005. With Soriano gone, there is less lineup protection. Pitchers are looking at Tex's power numbers and RBI from last year, and Young's fantastic BA and good power from last year, and saying "uh, PASS, I'll take my chances with the next batter."

I do expect Tex and Young to bounce back for more power. As pointed out, the have been hitting for average and doubles, so its reasonable to expect some of those doubles will turn into HR with a little more luck. But I think its unreasonable to think that all of those doubles will magically turn into HR once the temperature in Texas goes from 96 to 99 degrees.

My best projections as of now: Tex hits 285-24-100 and Young hits 315-15-85 for 2006.

[The Tri State Titans]

Slumps or off avg production always look bad at the start of the season. Maybe Tex is just starting slow. He was 0 for the WBC basically starting early could have caused him to have a problem. I am willing to bet his production will increase and by the end of the season look comparable to last years. Problem alot of people were looking for him to have a monster year beyond last years production. That doesnt look like it will happen.

[DSheppard]

tex is killing me right now. not as a fantasy owner (though i do have him) but as a ranger fan.

4 days ago i would have said hes getting it going. then he goes into another big slump.

and whoever said its hot in texas, they havnt been in texas for a week. when they left it was hot but the ball wasnt jumping yet.

teixeira does not ussually need the ball to be flying out of arlington to get HRs, trust me i watched every single one he hit last year. this year he can take a HR cut and not even get to the warning track. I dont know what to say. i think anyone who suggests steroids is ridiculous though. anything is possible but tex is one of the least likely people in baseball to take them.... he was the rangers rep in the players union for steroids testing, he had the nickname "tex-book" as in text book for going by the book in highschool. He is notoriously the clean cut all american good guy.

Obviously that doesnt mean he couldnt have taken steroids, but 2 and a half months is not enough to jump to that conclusion. especially since he was great last year and they were testing then too.

anyway im worried about him, but i do think he will have a good second half. the problem is that its at the point where its too late for him to put up comparable stats to last year no matter how hot he gets, you need time to compile 144 rbis. oh well.