Mark Teixeira hopes to get his brace off Monday, his latest step towards getting off the disabled list (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has a wrist check up Monday, at which time he’s hoping to remove the protective brace on his injured right wrist.

Teixeira said he’s hoping to be back in action May 1. He’s been keeping active and working everything except his wrist, doing the maximum he can to be ready when he’s off the disabled list. Getting the brace is one of many steps toward that goal.

Brian Cashman said it’s “way too early” to know about Teixeira’s wrist, but he’s working hard in the meantime. From the AP report:

“But I know one thing: He’s busting his tail,” Cashman said. “He’s doing leg stuff, he’s doing all these different stuff, so every aspect of his body other than the wrist can be better.”

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Mark Teixeira admitted Sunday that his wrist injury is worse than the Yankees initially indicated. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Initially the Yankees indicated Mark Teixeira had a strained wrist tendon that should heal with rest. But upon Teixeira’s return to Yankee camp on Sunday–for the first time since injuring his wrist–he admitted his injury was not exactly what the Yankees described.

Teixeira has a partially torn tendon sheath, an injury that could take longer than the projected eight-to-ten weeks to heal.

“It’s the tendon sheath that holds the tendon over,” Teixeira said. “It’s just the little covering that holds the tendon in place —the tendon will snap in and out if the sheath is gone. If that doesn’t heal, then the tendon has a chance to get damaged, and you don’t want that.”

The timetable is expected to be May, but Teixeira is aware of the danger in coming back too soon, and said he is willing to wait.

“If I try to play too early from this, we could miss the whole season, and we don’t want that,” Teixeira said. “I don’t know if it’s the beginning of May, the end of May, the beginning of June. I don’t know when it is, but we’ve got a whole bunch of season left, and the time that really matters is the playoffs.”

Yankee GM Brian Cashman said that Teixeira’s tendon is stable, so the timetable for recovery should stay the same. Provided Teixeira’s tendon shaft remains stable, he should be able to recover without injury and be back in the game within those eight-to-ten weeks.

Free agent Derrek Lee has decided to remain retired and has turned down an offer to play with the New York Yankees, Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown reported on Thursday.

After a flurry of injuries — including to first baseman Mark Teixeira — Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that he hoped to engage in talks with Scott Rolen, Chipper Jones and Lee. All three players are currently inactive. And now, at least Lee and Jones have dismissed the Yankees’ offer.

Teixeira strained a tendon in his right wrist and is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks. The Yankees will also open the season without star outfielder Curtis Granderson.

The 37-year-old Lee hasn’t played in the majors since he split time with Baltimore and Pittsburgh in 2011, batting .267 with 19 homers, 57 RBI and a .771 OPS.

Derrek Lee has decided to stay retired, according to source. Has turned down offer to play for Yankees.

— Tim Brown (@TBrownYahoo) March 15, 2013

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira will be out 8-10 weeks after straining his right wrist Tuesday, according to manager Joe Girardi.

Teixeira strained his right forearm while taking swings off a tee in the batting cage during a U.S. team practice Tuesday in preparation for the World Baseball Classic. He soon withdrew from the tournament.

Teixeira was scheduled to be evaluated further Wednesday by Yankees physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and Dr. Melvin Rosenwasser.

#Yankees Joe Girardi says 1B Mark Teixeira will miss 8-10 weeks with a strained right wrist—
Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) March 06, 2013

teixeira has no tear. the tendon is "stable.'' but he needs 4 weeks off plus 4 weeks rehab. #yankees—
Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) March 06, 2013

Vicente Padilla fired back at Mark Teixeira on Saturday, saying the Yankees’ star should play “a woman’s sport.” (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Boston Red Sox reliever Vicente Padilla fired back at Mark Teixeira on Saturday, a day after the New York Yankees first baseman had some strong words for Padilla in a longstanding feud between the two players.

On Friday, Teixeira reignited the war of words between the players, gloating about hitting the go-ahead two-run triple of Padilla in the Yankees’ 10-8 win and saying that Padilla “doesn’t have a lot of friends in the game” because of his tendency to hit opposing batters.

Padilla didn’t take too kindly to that.

“In this sport, as competitive ball players, we get pretty fired up,” Padilla told NESN’s Didier Morais on Saturday, in a Spanish-language interview. “So I think, maybe, [Teixeira] picked the wrong profession. I think he’d be better off playing a women’s sport.”

The bad blood between Teixeira and Padilla goes back to 2005, when Teixeira, then with the Texas Rangers, hit two homers off Padilla, who was then pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. Padilla later plunked Teixeira in the game. And he hit Teixeira two other times after that incident.

So the usually stoic and reserved Teixeira seemed to enjoy his game-winning hit over his nemesis on Friday.

“The guy throws at people, fact of the matter,” Teixeira said, according to ESPN. “I’m not saying anything that is news. It is what it is. … Some guys decide to take matters into their own hands. In the NFL, he would probably be suspended by Roger Goodell eight games or a whole season. This is baseball.”

The feud even continued when the two were later teammates in Texas. Padilla told NESN that Teixeira once threatened to hit him with a bat while in Texas.

Padilla also defended his style of pitching, noting that he has only hit one batter this season after plunking 107 over the previous 14 seasons of his career.

“I just think he’s scared to face me,” Padilla said. “I don’t throw at people to hit them on purpose. I throw inside, and I’ve always thrown inside. It’s not my problem if the ball hits someone. I’m worried about throwing strikes, and I’m going to keep playing my game.”

After a visit to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has been diagnosed with “severely inflamed airways,” according to the New York Post.

“I was getting no air,” Teixeira told the paper. “I’ve never gotten over the cough I’ve had all year.”

“The doctor said I was 100 percent healthy except for the airways,” Teixeira said. “But anything could irritate it.”

The Yankees first baseman is off to the worst start of his career. Through 29 games this season he has hit .217/.270/.374 with four home runs and 17 RBI. Last year he hit .247/.341/.494 with 39 home runs and 111 RBI.

The 32-year-old has a career 162 game average of .280/.370/.528 with 37 home runs and 119 RBI.