AL East Links: Teixeira, Orioles, Bautista

Though Mark Teixeira has been plagued by injuries in recent years, the first baseman told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that he’s hoping to play for five more seasons.  “My body feels so good, why not play until I’m 40? Being the kind of hitter I am, I can be a DH the last few years of my career, which could really prolong it. I would love to play that long,” Teixeira said, also noting that he wants to remain with the Yankees after his contract expires this winter.  That could be somewhat of a tricky prospect given that New York has Greg Bird as its first baseman of the future and Alex Rodriguez in the DH role through the 2017 season.  Still, Teixeira hit .255/.357/.548 with 31 homers in a fine bounce-back campaign last year, so he can shown that he can still produce if he can remain healthy.  Here’s some more from around the AL East…

• The holdup in Yovani Gallardo’s agreement has delivered a fresh round of criticism towards the Orioles and their high (perhaps overly high) standards in player physicals.  As MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko observes, however, avoiding some of these contracts has often been to the club’s benefit.  Many of the players the O’s opted not to sign due to health reasons proceeded to decline, either due to injury or simply subpar performance.
• An Orioles staff member also defended the team’s stance on physicals to Peter Gammons, noting that after the O’s backed out of an agreement with Grant Balfour two years ago, Balfour has since badly struggled.  Despite the criticism, the Orioles “were right. Dan [Duquette] didn’t deserve the grief he took,” the staff member said.  “And if this is what the doctor thinks, why would we pay Gallardo half the amount? If he’s hurt, Peter [Angelos] and Dan don’t owe him anything.”  Gammons also hears from two Orioles pitchers that Gallardo’s issue is “really unfortunate” and “apparently pretty serious.”
• By setting a high and seemingly inflexible price on a contract extension, Jose Bautista has made it easy for the Blue Jays to part ways with the slugger after the season, Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star opines.
• Dave Dombrowski has shown a willingness to cut ties with underperforming players regardless of contract status, as the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier recalls the Tigers’ 2003 release of Damion Easley when Dombrowski was Detroit’s general manager.  Now that Dombrowski is in charge of the Red Sox, his presence could put added pressure on 2015 struggles such as Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Rick Porcello and Rusney Castillo to improve.  (Though with the obvious caveat that eating any of those contracts would cost Boston much more than it cost Detroit to part ways with Easley.)