The New York Yankees‘ ultimate plan would include Greg Bird playing a full season in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre while they got a healthy full season from Mark Teixeira. Before the Yankees have even reported for Spring Training, those plans have gone awry. Bird will miss the entire season with a torn labrum.
Bird originally hurt his shoulder in May of last year but played through it. He played an integral role for the Yankees last season hitting .261/.343/.529 with 11 home runs, 31 RBI, nine doubles and he scored 26 runs. He offered the Yankees a glimpse into the future while filling in for an injured Teixeira and he didn’t disappoint. He whet the appetite of Yankees fans who suddenly saw a homegrown talent at first base the team has not had since Don Mattingly came up in the early 1980s.
While the Yankees’ plan was for Bird to at least start the year in Triple-A, there was good reason to believe it would only be a matter of time before he was called up most likely to fill in for an injured Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez — two older players who aren’t exactly pillars of health these days.
The 23-year-old first baseman won’t be set back too much. He will still factor heavily into the Yankees’ 2017 plans and should be the team’s starter at first base. The injury does hurt the Yankees in the short run, however. They now lack a solid backup plan to Teixeira at first base. They could theoretically give Rodriguez some time there, but he wasn’t too keen on learning first last season and barely played there at all. The Yankees could use also use Brian McCann at first base which would probably be the best option if Teixeira goes down since he did play there some last season. This would allow Gary Sanchez to see more time behind the plate and, at the moment, they do have Austin Romine so their catcher depth could save them in an emergency.
Regardless, the Yankees need Teixeira to stay healthy more than ever now. Bird was the surefire fallback option if Teixeira got hurt and now they need him to stay healthy for the entire season more than they did before.
Ideally, the Yankees will use their final bench spot to bring in someone who can play third base behind Chase Headley and first behind Mark Teixeira. The Yankees might be forced to sign their first free agent of the offseason fairly soon.
