Mark Teixeira's wrist is worse than expected

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."