NEW YORK --?Yankees?first baseman?Mark Teixeira?said he was certain this was the right time, but that didnt make it any easier for him to say goodbye.Teixeira fought back tears Friday?as he announced that his 14th season in the major leagues will be his last. At 36, he has decided to retire at the end of the season.I got to live out my dream, said Teixeira, who has hit 404 career home runs and won a World Series with the Yankees in 2009.Teixeira said in spring training that he hoped to play another five years. He has missed time because of problems with his neck and knees, however, and he said his decision to call it a career was made at the All-Star break.I just realized my body cant do it anymore, Teixeira said. If Im going to grind through seasons not being healthy, Id rather be home with my kids.My neck hurts almost every day. The knee thing popped up. It all kind of dawned on me thats not in the cards.Teixeira is in the eighth and final year of the $180 million contract he signed as a free agent in December 2008. He said he kept the decision to himself at first, but after the Yankees went into sell mode at this weeks non-waiver trade deadline, he understood there would be questions about his future.I dont want to be a distraction, said Teixeira, a three-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner.Teixeira was in the lineup for Friday nights 13-7 win over the Cleveland Indians. He?doubled in the first inning after receiving a warm ovation, then legged out a single in the third and took third on Brian McCanns double.?It was special tonight, he said. I had a lot of the Indians come over and say congratulations, and the umpires, just telling me that they enjoyed watching me and playing against me.At .202, his batting average reached .200 for the first time since before play on May 20.It had to be really rewarding for the game that he had tonight, Girardi said, adding that hell continue to play Teixeira as much as I can [the rest of the season].Teixeiras best season came in 2009, his first with the Yankees, when he hit .292 with 39 homers and 122 RBIs and finished second in American League MVP voting.He said he was proudest of hitting at least 30 home runs and driving in at least 100 runs for eight straight seasons from 2004 through 2011.He was limited to 15 games and a .151 average in 2013 after he tore the tendon sheath in his right hand while with the U.S. team at the World Baseball Classic. He had surgery that July and missed the remainder of the season, then hit .216 with 22 homers and 62 RBIs the following year, when the hand was still regaining strength and he was slowed by a hamstring injury.Fully recovered, he made the All-Star team again in 2015 but fouled a pitch off his right leg Aug. 17, played two more games in pain and then found out he had fractured his shin. He finished the season with a .255 average, 31 homers and 79 RBIs.Teixeira hasnt appeared in more than 123 games in a season since 2011.Teixeira, chosen by the Texas Rangers with the fifth overall pick in the 2001 amateur draft, also played for the Rangers,?Atlanta Braves?and?Los Angeles Angels?in his 14-year career. He owns a .269 career batting average with 1,281 RBIs.He is one of five switch-hitters in MLB history with at least 400 home runs, joining Mickey Mantle (536), Eddie Murray (504), Chipper Jones (468) and Carlos Beltran (415).Only nine players have finished their careers with at least 400 home runs and five Gold Gloves. All are in the Hall of Fame, except Barry Bonds and Andruw Jones, who will be eligible in 2018.?Teixeiras potential successor at first base is 23-year-old Greg Bird,?who is missing this season after shoulder surgery in February.On Friday, Teixeira said it mattered to him to retire as a Yankee.I gave you everything I had, he said, speaking to Yankees fans as his voice cracked. It wasnt always enough, but I tried my best.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Kareem Hunt Hoodie . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. 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Authentic Chiefs Hoodies . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. We fantasy pundits always preach early in the season to not overreact to hot or cold starts. Even the best players have a bad week or two, and some of the worst players will get hot for a fortnight on occasion.That having been said, after speculating and hypothesizing all summer, its not necessarily too soon to draw some conclusions about players now that we have actually seen them in action this fall.Joel Embiid looks every bit like a superstar, but will that continue? Serge Ibaka and Nikola Jokic have looked like busts. Will they turn it around? Who has played well enough to be snagged off your waiver wire? How about expectations for a player we havent seen ball this season: Darren Collison?Dont worry; we have the answers for you.At the start of each week this season, Ill tip things off by posing and seeking answers to five key questions, thus The Starting Five.This weeks contributors are ESPN Fantasys?John Cregan, Jim McCormick and Joe Kaiser.Four games into his NBA career, Joel Embiid is averaging a stunning 18.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.0 BPG, 48.0 FG% and 80.0 FT% in just 22 MPG. Of course, he missed the past two seasons due to injuries, so the risk in owning him is obvious. Where do you put his statistical ceiling for 2016-17?Cregan:?It all depends on his minutes cap and his status for back-to-backs. In terms of a ceiling, for now, youre probably looking at it. His usage rate (35.8) and PER (25.39) are so high that he simply has nowhere else to go. The latest reports have the Sixers reviewing Embiids restrictions in six weeks. So theres a chance he gets ramped up come early 2017.McCormick:?Embiids ceiling is cathedral high, when we consider hes already second in the league in blocks per game and third in usage rate. Blocks prove truly rare and scarce, while the usage rate indicates Embiid is an integral offensive weapon whenever hes on the court. Currently on a minutes restriction hovering around 25 minutes per game, reports suggest increased exposure could begin after Christmas. As a big who doesnt hurt investors in free throws and offers help in points and blocks, Embiid could truly break out as a top-five fantasy center in the second half (hes currently 11th on the Player Rater at the position).Kaiser:?At this point, the only thing Im worried about with Embiid is injury. Hes looked so good throughout the preseason and early part of the regular season that I think the 76ers realize that theyll need to unload Nerlens Noel and/or Jahlil Okafor in the near future, as Embiids minutes restriction disappears. As far as his ceiling goes, I dont think hell put up the numbers Karl-Anthony Towns had as a rookie last season, but I think he has a chance to be a notch under that, as long as he can stay healthy. Remember, Towns played all 82 games as a rookie.After seeing Serge Ibakas block production dwindle each season from his career-high mark of 3.7 BPG in 2011-12 to 1.9 BPG last season, there was hope that we would see a spike in that department after joining the Orlando Magic over the summer. Instead, he is averaging a career-low 0.8 BPG. Is he a buy-low candidate for blocks or are his days of being Serge IBlocka over?Cregan:?It wasnt me! I had no hope for Ibakas block production! Dont put that hope on me! Block production tends to taper off the deeper a player descends into ones career path. There arent many cases of players suddenly rediscovering ones Year 2 block mojo. One and a half to two blocks per game would be a minor statistical miracle.McCormick:?Im not sure of the exact value of this correlation, but Ibakas block rate began to descend when he made a sudden and dramatic surge in 3-point attempts in 2014-15. As hes become a stretch forward, his defensive metrics have suffered. Its disconcerting to see Ibakas block rate take another dip, but Im just as concerned with his deflated minutes, as hes playing the lowest rate in five seasons. With Jeff Green and Aaron Gordon fulfilling similar roles, Im not sure hes going to vault above 30 MPG for a deep frontcourt rotation. I dont find Ibaka as a buy-low candidate and, instead, would seek to market him based on the value his past production might garner.Kaiser:?Every now and then, a player seems to age more rapidly than normal. I think about Martell Webster when I think of players like this. And I think Ibaka is similar in that, even at age 27, he isnt as bouncy as he once was in his earlier years with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Add to the fact that his game has moved more to the perimeter, and hes a player who is suffering not only in terms of blocks but also rebounds (5.2 RPG this season). If hes averaging on 14 points, 5 rebounds and leess than a block a game, hes not a top 80 player.ddddddddddddIts been a bumpy start for a player many people expected to break out this season: Nikola Jokic. How concerned are you?Cregan:?On a scale of 1-10, Im around a 6. Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone has yet to figure out how to mesh Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic together in a way thats mutually statistically beneficial. Of the two, Jokic will struggle more in a timeshare due to his unselfish style of play.McCormick:?Im quite concerned, since, like Ibaka, Jokics minutes have been compromised so far. Unlike Ibaka, we dont have an elite sample of fantasy production for Jokic, but rather the speculation and upside his talent suggests. With just 9.2 shots and 23 minutes per game, thanks to rating sixth on the Nuggets in minutes, wed likely need to see a Kenneth Faried trade or injury to facilitate the breakout his offseason hype demanded. The talent is undeniable, but the opportunity might just not be there this season. The real breakout for the Nuggets might just come from Jusuf Nurkic.Kaiser:?I think you have to remain patient with Jokic. Hes a second-year player who doesnt turn 22 until late February, so any inconsistency he has this season -- particularly in the early going -- is to be expected. You can sell low if you want to, but Id caution against it when you have someone who put up 10 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 0.4 threes per game in less than 22 minutes per contest as a 20 year old last season.Name a player owned in less than 50 percent of ESPN leagues who you recommend adding to fantasy rosters.Cregan:?I like what both Louis Williams and and Sean Kilpatrick have done in limited roles in low-expectation situations. Theyre both worth rostering in deeper leagues as is. Both have plenty of room to grow in terms of minutes, so theres plenty of upside with both.McCormick:?The Hornets Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ranks among the leagues trees -- as in the big men -- when it comes to rebounding opportunities. MKG has enjoyed 18.8 rebounding chances per game, defined as being within 3.5 feet of an available board, which ranks eighth in the NBA. We also find the versatile forward providing well over a block and steal per game, which adds to his immense and emergent value, despite the lack of appreciation from the fantasy marketplace so far.Kaiser:?ESPN.coms Zach Lowe reported on Nov. 3 that the Pelicans are hopeful that Jrue Holiday can return to the team by mid-November. The talented point guard missed training camp and the early part of the season to support his wife Lauren Holiday, who recently gave birth to their first child and underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. Our thoughts continue to be with Lauren in her recovery. Basketball pales in comparison to something as serious as that, but if Holiday is in fact back on the court in the coming weeks, hes immediately a must-own player. Currently, he is owned in only 34.6 percent of ESPN leagues. Pick him up now if you can -- the 26-year-old averaged 16.8 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 threes per game for the Pelicans last season.Having served his eight-game suspension, Darren Collison (61.2 ownership in ESPN leagues) is slated to make his season debut Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors. What are your expectations for him this season?Cregan:?Around 16 points, 5.5 assists, 1-to-1.5 3-pointers and steals, plus dynamite percentages and a subtly high (for a point guard) rebound rate. He has top-50 upside, but I think he tops out around sixth-to-seventh-round value.McCormick:?Since Ty Lawson has averaged nearly 32 minutes in place of Collison to start the season, we can liberally apply Collisons per-36 rates from last season to approximate his potential for this season: 16.8 PPG, 5.2 APG, 1.4 3-PPGand 1.2 SPG. These are really helpful numbers, and even if they prove a bit generous in some categories, Collisons assist rate should climb north of six per game.Kaiser:?Ty Lawson has played well enough to at least deserve a 50-50 split of the minutes at point guard in Sacramento, but its impossible to know how first-year Kings coach Dave Joerger is going to dole out the playing time. Collison averaged 14 PPG, 4.3 SPG and 1 SPG in 30 MPG last season under George Karl, and that was with Rajon Rondo on the roster, but I dont see his stats going up on a Kings team thats taken on a much slower-paced approach under Joerger. In fact, the Kings enter Monday ranked 29th in the league in pace, ahead of only Utah, which means fewer opportunities for Collison. Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Wholesale NFL Gear Cheap Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2018 Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys White NFL Jerseys Cheap ' ' '