Bird’s right foot-the same foot that cost him most of last year- is mysteriously inflamed. In retrospect, the Yankees should’ve prepared for this as an inevitability. While it must be incredibly frustrating for Bird himself, the team just can’t rely on him to play 150+ games in the field. They haven’t announced yet whether or not he’ll start the season on the DL. Even if he returns to action in time for Opening Day, there’s at least a reasonable chance he’ll miss time at some point during the season. Should that happen, here’s where the Yankees will turn for a first baseman, in order of likelihood.

Neil Walker

Other than Bird, there will probably be only four players on the 25 man roster with any first base experience whatsoever. Brandon Drury played one inning at the position in 2013, and Gary Sanchez spent three innings there last year. Both have starting jobs elsewhere and almost certainly won’t be moved to first. Austin Romine barely hits enough to keep his job as a backup catcher, so even though he’s played 20 games at first base, he’s unpalatable as a long-term option. That leaves the most recent Yankee acquisition: Neil Walker

Walker is a 9-year MLB veteran who played second base almost exclusively from 2009-2016. His calling card is offense, and he brings a career 114 wRC+ into this season. He’s never been particularly adept at his natural position, posting -16 DRS and -23.5 UZR for his career. At age 32, he’s more likely to regress than progress, and frankly, he can’t afford to lose any range and stay up the middle. Last year, while playing for the Mets and Brewers, he was asked to spend some time at first base as well as third. Transitioning to the corners may be the key to extending his career into his mid-30s.

There’s another reason why Walker is the best backup first base candidate: Tyler Wade. Improbably, Wade beat out top prospects Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar for a spot on the major league roster when the Yankees break camp. The fleet middle infielder impressed the coaching staff with his superior speed and defense. He’s no slouch at the plate either, batting .310/.382/.460 in AAA last year and has a .404 OBP in Spring Training. Manager Aaron Boone already announced plans to use Wade concurrently with Walker at second base, so if the latter moves over to first, there’s an in-house replacement at second.

Tyler Austin

Remember when Tyler Austin was a top prospect? Along with Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott, the Yankee outfield of the future never really materialized. Of the three former can’t-miss stars, Austin has the brightest future remaining. After moving to first base, he finally conquered the high minors in 2016, only to get hurt for most of last season (along with everyone else on the first base depth chart).

At age 26, Austin has nothing left to prove in the minors. He hasn’t hit much in the big leagues so far- just .236/.294/.447 through 136 PA, but the power is real. He’s crushed 4 HR and 2 2B this spring, so his bat looks pretty hot at the moment. If the Yankees aren’t comfortable with Walker at first base, or if Wade fails to hit, Austin will get the first call from the minors (assuming he doesn’t make the team out of Spring Training).

Miguel Andujar

What if the third baseman of the future isn’t a third baseman? Miguel Andujar posted a .850 OPS in AA and AAA last year and shot up the prospect charts this offseason. He followed that up with 7 XBH this spring. No one questions his ability to hit, nor the major league readiness of his bat. The Yankees even felt comfortable enough with him that they traded away Chase Headley before they had other third base alternatives (they’ve since added Drury and Walker, of course).

Most of the time, when a team sends a player down to “work on his defense,” it’s a euphemism for “we’re playing games with his service time.” (See Acuna, Ronald.) However, in the case of Andujar, they might be telling the truth. According to Jarrett Seidler in the Yankees BP Prospect Rankings, “The plus arm strength plays down because it isn’t paired with stellar accuracy. His hands aren’t great, and he doesn’t always make the best of choices on how to play the ball at third, which has led the Yankees to talk about exposing him to other positions, most likely first base.”

It’s too soon to give up on Andujar at the hot corner, so the Yankees aren’t likely to move him to first just yet. However, if Bird misses significant time again and can no longer be trusted with a starting job, Andujar’s future might be at the cold corner instead.

Other Options

The Yankees have two more imperfect options to fill a first base void. There’s Billy McKinney, who is on the 40 man roster but not really a first baseman. There’s also recent Rule V Draft returnee Mike Ford, who is not on the 40 man roster but is a real first baseman. Both showed the ability hit for some power and drew a few walks in the minors as well as Spring Training (though Ford was at the Mariners’ camp). Neither are exciting options at the moment, but if they get hot in the minor leagues, you never know what can happen.

In the event of a significant injury to Bird, perhaps the most likely outcome of all is that the Yankees go outside the organization. GM Brian Cashman still has some room under the $197 million luxury tax threshold as well as an overstocked farm system. Rather than suffer a war of attrition at first base for the second year in a row (third if you count Mark Teixeira’s final season), look for a major acquisition if things get desperate.

Photo credit: Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports

The staunch difference between the two became a punching bag for analysts who disregard the majority of Spring Training stats, but there were two overlooked factors that were easy evidence as to why Bird’s spring burst wasn’t translating early on this season.

Bird fouled a ball off his ankle at the end of March that could have, in a variety of ways, contributed to this rough stretch to start the 2017 campaign. The resulting bruise was in a particularly weird spot and led to, as you may have noticed, a distinct black ankle guard, different from the classic shin guard many players wear.

Add to that a battle with the flu early last week and we have some convincing environmental evidence that Bird’s .038 average probably wouldn’t stick. Well, that and the fact that there isn’t an offensive statistic that stabilizes (becomes usable) prior to about 100 at bats. Should we abide by that threshold? Most likely, but as long as we do so with caution, some value can be found.

The nagging injury narrative came to a halt at about 8:45 p.m. Sunday night, when Bird took a 90-mph sinker 400+ feet to right field — easily the best swing he has put on a ball all year, and probably since 2015. The very simple approach to pitching Bird is similar to that of many other big left-handed bats: down and away. As you can see from our zone profiles below, among Bird’s approximate 200 plate appearances at the major league level from 2015 and 2017, this is exactly what he saw (the chart on the left denotes where Bird has seen pitches in his career).

Bird thrives on pitches in the zone and, unlike some other big power bats, can actually reach the outside corner with effectiveness (the chart on the right shows his resulting isolated power numbers on all regular season batted balls). The Wainwright sinker that was deposited into the right field seats caught too much of the plate middle-in, and Bird swung like we’ve seen him do in the past: compact, on a swing plane that produces fly balls and smooth as silk from contact to follow through.

Bird went on to double off Wainwright again in the fourth inning on another middle-of-the-zone sinker, following that up with a seven pitch walk versus Sam Bowman, who had at that point been a minor bright spot on the reeling St. Louis bullpen. His final at bat rounded out a 3-for-3 night, as he singled on an 0-2 pitch on the outer part of the plate, displaying his ability once again to barrel up pitches in the ‘.733′ isolated power quadrant in the zone profile above.

It’s all roses for Bird right now, but it may be valuable to take a look at what PECOTA was pegging Bird for preseason in order to scale our expectations for the rest of the season. Bird’s 50th-percentile projection entering the year showed a .244/.328/.457 slash line, 17 HR, 52 RBI and 47 runs (1.0 WARP). PECOTA’s optimistic 90th-percentile projection gave Bird a .284/.375/.532 slash line, 22 HR, 68 RBI, and 63 runs (3.1 WARP). It’s expected that Bird will be an above average player, indicated by the .270 True Average (TAv), about ten points above league average.

One reason Bird’s final line might edge closer toward the 90th-percentile is due in part to his place in the batting order. Joe Girardi batted Bird third for the first four games of the season, but his slow start has since cost him the spot. Keep in mind, as we discussed above, Bird’s ankle issues and the flu played into the early season struggles. With those issues seemingly in the past, and with no concrete lineup through the first three weeks of the season, I think he can easily push back up in the order if Sunday’s game truly is a sign of success to come. Combine that with Bird’s 50+ percent fly ball rate in the midst of a speculated fly ball revolution, and the 137 home runs hit by lefties in Yankee Stadium last season (highest of any major league ballpark in 2016), and projecting Bird for less than 20 home runs seems to overemphasize the health concerns he’s dealt with in the past.

I’m very excited for the next few weeks of Bird, brought on by a combination of factors including last night’s approach and success. Is this an overreaction to the minuscule sample of one game? Not exactly. We know that Bird doesn’t project as a sub-.200 hitter or possess a sub-.300 OBP approach. We also know what environmental factors may have initially hindered his first batch of plate appearances. This one game isn’t the reason that Bird will turn the corner, but it could be a sign of success to come especially as he continues to find his rhythm at the plate (for anybody who doesn’t believe in rhythm, check out this video of Josh Donaldson breaking down his approach). Before we know it, Bird may be sporting the near-.500 slugging percentage from the left side the Yankees’ lineup craves to take another step forward.

In case you were wondering, sections 205 and 206 encompass the second deck in Yankee Stadium’s right field. Here’s a link to tickets. Go get yourself a Greg Bird home run ball.

Lead photo: Andy Marlin  / USA Today Sports

That changed in 2015. Luis Severino and Greg Bird both reached the major leagues and performed admirably. Bird was worth 1.1 WARP in 46 games, hitting .261/.343/.539 to go along with 11 home runs and a 10.7 percent walk rate. Bird is the heir apparent to Mark Teixeira at first base, and figured to be his eventual replacement at some point in 2016 when Teixeira’s propensity for injury comes into play. Yet fate is a cruel mistress indeed. Bird is out for the season following surgery to repair a torn labrum. He reportedly felt some pain in his shoulder towards the end of last year, and now we know why. There are worse problems for a team to have than not having a strong Plan B at first base. Far, far worse problems. That doesn’t make the loss sting any less.

Bird missing the season hurts us as fans for two reasons. The first is the absolute dread that comes with the knowledge that at some point, somehow, Teixeira will cash in his frequent flier miles and limp to the disabled list. That’s when Dustin Ackley, or Chase Headley, or even Brian McCann could find himself spending far too much time at first base.

The second is that we love to see prospects succeed, especially when the system hasn’t produced a strong talent in years. Bird is part of a holy trinity of prospects that also includes Severino and Aaron Judge that Yankees fans have hung their hat on as their source of hope for the future. The ancient likes of Texieira and Carlos Beltran are finally starting to filter out of the roster. The next generation of Yankees is on the horizon, but it just hit a major bump in the road.

So, how should one deal with the sadness of losing an exciting young player like Bird to injury for a whole year?

Well, not exactly.

1. Remember the other cool stuff happening with the Yankees
   We may not get to watch Bird mash dingers for a while. That blows. However, we do get to watch Severino make batters look life fools all year. We get to see if Starlin Castro turns back into a productive hitter while forming half of the youngest double play combinations that the Yankees have had in eons. Plus, Aaron Judge should be hitting the Bronx at some point this year, and if you like homers, you’re going to love him.
2. Don’t forget that prospects break your heart
   Bird was really good during his big league cameo in 2015. That doesn’t mean he would have been really good in 2016. One of the complaints that scouts have with Bird is that he’s often too selective at the plate, which can easily put him in two-strike counts, and that leads to lots of strikeouts. The pitchers of the AL East could theoretically still figure out the secret to dismantling Bird as they see him for a second time. As awesome as he is, Bird isn’t a proven big-league product just yet.
3. Think about the Orioles’ pitching staff
   Baltimore is set to roll out a rotation of Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Miguel Gonzalez, Kevin Gausman, and, well, theoretically someone has to be the fifth starter, right? Those guys are going to have to pitch in Yankee Stadium pretty often. And Camden Yards, for that matter. Isn’t that lovely?
4. Think about the back of the Yankees’ bullpen 
   Mmmm, strikeouts. The Yankees will be playing quite a few six-inning games this year. Who needs the Royals?
5. Look up some of the prospects still kicking around on the farm
   Jorge Mateo is faster than a speeding bullet, and he plays shortstop. James Kaprielian is going to move through the ranks rather quickly. Dustin Fowler plays center field and does just about everything well, including hitting. Jacob Lindgren will finally ascend to the major leagues, elbow-embedded bone chip free, to strike out every batter he can get his hands on. Here, enjoy BP’s Top 10 Yankees prospects.
6. Watch A-Rod hit home runs
   It’s so soothing.

Learning about Bird’s injury probably injected an awful feeling into your soul. Breathe easy, let it all out. Just follow these six steps and everything will be okay.

That, and read BP Bronx as often as you can.

Lead photo: Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports

Bird will miss all of the 2016 season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, the Yankees announced Monday. According to a news release, the injury is a recurrence of an injury first sustained last May. Bird will undergo surgery Tuesday, with the operation performed by Mets team physician Dr. David Altchek.

Losing Bird is certainly a blow to the Yankees. Playing every day in place of the injured Mark Teixeira, the 23-year-old Bird hit .261/.343/.529 in a 178 plate appearances in 2015, for a .312 TAv that ranked just behind Tex for best on the team (minimum 100 plate appearances). Bird was likely to begin 2016 either in Triple-A or on the bench but offered essential insurance in case of an injury to Teixeira and the equally brittle Alex Rodriguez.

Without Bird, the Yankees’ backup first baseman situation is cloudy, with Dustin Ackley and Brian McCann the only players on the roster outside of Teixeira with semi-substantial experience at that position. Brian Cashman might have to break his free agency silence to find someone to provide help at first.

More importantly, Bird’s injury means a lost year for one of the Yankees’ most promising young players. Bird came up last year as one of New York’s top prospects but far from a can’t-miss superstar, and while his performance in August and September gave Yankee fans hope he could be a key part of the team’s long-term future, 2016 was supposed to be the year he showed whether he’s a potential star or merely a solid contributor.

See you in 2017, #GREGBIRD. The Yankees will miss you.

Lead photo: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports

What they tend to put out is cliche-heavy statements in support of teammates and some thinly-veiled sponsored stuff. This isn’t to say that athletes are boring human beings, they just have a lot more to lose than to gain by putting themselves out there on social media and what we see reflects that reality.

However, Mr. Greg Bird is a different story. Coming off a fantastic 46-game debut with the New York Yankees in 2015 he decided to join the Twitterverse and he’s taken to it like a fish to water. It’s worth mentioning that there were a lot of aviary puns available there and I summoned the strength to resist them.

Anyway, it’s very difficult to predict whether Bird will be a star on the field because baseball is tough to forecast and if anyone could do it perfectly they would have a nicer apartment than I do. They’d probably even be a home owner.

Social media is a little easier though, and based on the 23-year-old’s first 148 offerings I’m willing to state unequivocally that we will be a star on Twitter.

Before Bird even issued his first Tweet he had two built-in advantages to help him become an icon of his generation.

1) He plays for the New York Yankees who play in a very large city, have a storied history, and possess a legion of fans who can be found just about anywhere. The quality of some of these fans, especially outside of New York, can be suspect, but the quantity is undeniable.

2) His last name is Bird. That’s a comic gold mine oozing with elegant simplicity.

Bird’s Twitter career got off to a promising start on December 2 when presented a quick 11-Tweet illustrated biography. The abridged version is below:

I started out hitting…soccer balls…when I was little… pic.twitter.com/iQPO8HkEMr

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) December 3, 2015

Went to high school @Grandview_HS with the one and only @KevinGausman #303 pic.twitter.com/EC5oVehXPE

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) December 3, 2015

Drafted and signed with @Yankees as you probably know haha pic.twitter.com/CJZKxwlpz8

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) December 3, 2015

…and now you know a little bit more about me, I can't wait for next season #goyanks pic.twitter.com/nhiKQgysOl

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) December 3, 2015

Since then he’s branched out significantly from random observations, to emoji-heavy travel updates, to musings on food. In recent weeks he’s touched on topics such as Battlefrog commercials, automatic soap dispensers, and his undying love for Chipotle.

However, the strongest work he’s done on social media has been tweeting on the topic of birds, making him a good follower for bird enthusiasts and baseball fans alike. Here are a couple of prime examples:

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it's rains haha #happynewyear pic.twitter.com/Q8lFkCgv4N

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) January 1, 2016

Who said man's best friend was a dog….@GoPro https://t.co/aMkdasVvLJ

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) January 5, 2016

RIP #NationalBirdDay pic.twitter.com/VEklKX3y2Q

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) January 5, 2016

….one of my off season hobbies #firstbiggestlast #gonefishing pic.twitter.com/aMxBUGTXtZ

— Greg Bird (@_GBIRD33) December 5, 2015

The sample size is small, but according to my exceedingly unofficial count, only 20 of his Tweets registered under the umbrella of “Boring Athlete Things,” meaning that Bird is Tweeting about things fans might actually find fun with remarkable consistency.

So far, the young first baseman has shown he’s willing and able to dig deep on bird jokes, his emoji tool is a 50 right now, and he’s thinking about things other than baseball. We are only 148 Tweets into his career, so a level-headed analyst would call for caution, but I’m willing to proclaim him a future star with a great degree of confidence.

Bird’s quest to achieve stardom on the field is complex and he has a number of roadblocks ahead of him, but on Twitter he’s free to be that homegrown star Yankees fans have long been clamoring for.

Lead photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Once again, the Yankees find themselves in a nebulous space before the inception of the regular season. The AL East is not as wide open as it seemed to be at the beginning of the 2015 season. The Rays are decidedly dead for the time being, and the Orioles currently have a pitching staff held together with scotch tape and Ubaldo Jimenez. The Blue Jays will still have their wrecking crew lineup, and the Red Sox have a revamped bullpen to go along with their shiny new David Price.

The Yankees are somewhere in the middle. They’ve added an elite reliever, a good young outfielder, and a young second baseman. Yet they’re still very old, and still own the most fragile starting rotation in the division. Many of the things that went wrong for the 2015 Yankees can once again go wrong for the 2016 Yankees, and in dramatic fashion. However, what we’ve witnessed thus far has been the continuation of a slow but steady youth movement that’s been long overdue for New York. The Yankees could win the division as easily as they could self-immolate in a fantastic display of Murphy’s Law operating on a $200 million budget.

The 2016 season will operate as a crossroads of sorts. It will be the final year of Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran, and only the baseball gods know whether or not Alex Rodriguez will be able to survive a second season back unscathed. More and more products of a suddenly bountiful farm system will graduate, and the very essence of the team will begin to change. What follows are things to watch for on this year’s version of the Bronx Bombers.

• Young Messers Severino and Bird: Luis Severino will be undertaking his first full season of big-league ball. After holding opposing hitters to a 2.89 ERA (3.82 DRA) in just over 60 innings of work, how he handles a second swing through the league will be incredibly important. Severino was arguably the Yankees’ best starter down the stretch, and they’ll need him to be excellent once more if they truly have designs on contending. Meanwhile, Greg Bird won’t even begin the season in the Bronx, but instead down at Scranton. There’s simply no room for him to get regular plate appearances with both Teixeira and A-Rod healthy, so he’ll wait until one of them is injured to come up. Bird is almost certainly the Yankees’ first baseman of the future, and a second strong run at big-league pitching will show whether or not his strikeout concerns will hold him back from being an offensive cornerstone.
• The Labors of Alex Rodriguez: The most fascinating man in New York had a year for the ages in terms of pure story. While I could wax poetic about A-Rod for eons, and probably will, what’s important here is that the Yankees are gambling on their resident Methuselah to supply the dingers once again. Being restricted to a DH role is good for A-Rod’s sustainability, but he can only cheat death for so long. Even just last year, he faded in the late months of the season. He will require more days off, and will likely find himself on the business end of the disabled list at some point. But it’s A-Rod that will need to do much of the heavy lifting for the Yankees this year, and that’s a little scary.
• The Other Four Guys: We know that the monstrous Aroldis Chapman/Andrew Miller/Dellin Betances trio is unfair and likely part of a video game that seeped into the real world in a strange reversal of Tron. There’s no debate to be had there. However, there are still four other jobs open in that bullpen. Two of them likely belong to Chasen Shreve and Jacob Lindgren, meaning that the Yankees will roll out with four lefty relievers. One more spot is likely Bryan Mitchell’s, as he’ll be doing the Adam Warren super-swingman job. The seventh spot probably once again belongs to the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Frequent Flyer Club again, meaning it’ll be filled by the various up-and-down Triple-A relief arms. Is that good enough? Are the Yankees too left-handed? We know that Chapman and Miller make short work of any who dare face them, and Shreve was good at getting guys out regardless of which box they stood in (until he couldn’t get anybody out). Lindgren is supposedly in that same mold. Only time will tell, but the middle relievers could be just as good as the menacing figures lurking in the late innings.
• The Trade Deadline: Brian Cashman could be in two very different positions once that most magical part of the summer comes to town. The Yankees could either need a few more pieces to put them over the top, or they could be the New York Post’s favorite punching bag every single morning. Should the first scenario come to pass, it will be quite fascinating to see just how crazy he’s willing to get. If the Bronx is burning, players such as Chase Headley, Brett Gardner (if he hasn’t already been traded), and Andrew Miller could become quite tantalizing targets for the shrewd shopper. Neither scenario would be particularly surprising, of course, which makes the coming season all the more anticipated.

I could go on and on about what to look for. However, we here at BP Bronx need topics to write about, and there’s only so much I can say before your eyes glaze over and you drift into a dream of reaching over Zack Hample’s shoulder to catch a home run ball. I can’t say I blame you.

The Yankees are not the Blue Jays, with their mortar-launching offense. They aren’t the Cubs and their unyielding supply of prospects, nor are they the Red Sox with their Mookie Betts. But for the first time in what feels like a lifetime, the Yankees may very well be genuinely interesting. That counts for something, and nobody really wants to be the Red Sox anyway. We’re going to take you all the way to Opening Day here at BP Bronx, and then we’ll take you through the end of the season. There’s a lot to write about, and a lot to dream about. There’s a lot of baseball to watch. Soon enough, we’ll have just that back in our lives.

Baseball.

Lead photo courtesy of Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Switch Positions

Sure, it looks like the Yankees have three players for two spots, but it would be a whole lot easier if they had three players for three spots. They could do this by moving one of A-Rod, Teixeira, or Bird to right field or third base. Let’s start with Teixeira. The five-time Gold Glover winner has played 1659 games at first base, and last played another position in 2004. Moving Teixeira off of first base isn’t an option. Next up is Alex Rodriguez…could he move back to third base?

Okay, let’s shut that idea down. Greg Bird is only 22, relatively athletic, and was a catcher before being drafted. Of the three, it is most feasible to ask him to move to another spot on the field. Then again, he had to stop catching because of a major back injury, and Brian Cashman dismissed the idea of trying Greg Bird at another position. Making matters worse, if Bird moved, where would he go? Chase Headley isn’t moving, and has three years left on a $50 million contract. In left field is Carlos Beltran, who was the Yankees’ best hitter in the second half. He may regress some, but Aaron Judge is getting closer to the MLB. This plan is flawed two-fold. Not only is it unrealistic to expect any of these three to switch positions, but there’s also nowhere for them to move to.

Grade: F

Trade a player

A player moving positions doesn’t make much sense, but a player moving teams may be a bit more pragmatic. Or not…Alex Rodriguez did have a nice 3.0 WAR season that could interest some teams, but he’s 40, signed through 2017 at $21 million a year, and batted .216 in the second half of this season. Teixeira, 35, is getting paid $23 million through next season, so he’s nearly impossible to trade as well. Greg Bird is equally untradeable, but in a different way. The Yankees would be foolish to trade away Bird for anybody, especially considering that Teixeira is a free agent after next season. I guess this plan is more possible than the first one, but it’s still a bad idea.

Grade: D

Sit Mark Teixeira

The Yankees aren’t going to fix the numbers situation through a position change or a trade, so they may have to accept their fate and sit a player. The first possibility is to sit Mark Teixeira. Sure, he is old and was hurt for much of last season, but Teixeira is the best player of the three. Not only does he bring brilliant defense, but Teixeira also had the third most WAR in the AL in the first half of 2015. He likely won’t repeat that offensive performance, but he could come close. Bird may eventually perform on that level, but it’s unrealistic to expect that in his first full MLB season.

Grade: D+

Send Down Greg Bird

There’s not a big difference between sending down Greg Bird and sitting him. Either way, they lose a valuable bat from the starting lineup. That said, there are still some positives and negatives for this approach. On the bright side, there’s less of a chance of Bird’s development being hurt. It certainly won’t help his morale to be back in the minors, but it’s better than robbing him of vital at bats. But, the Yankees will lose out on having a powerful pinch hitter, and a great option off the bench when A-Rod or Teixeira need a breather. If Bird is sent down, the team may need to look outside the organization for a bench bat, one that is unlikely to be as valuable as Bird. While this option would cause outcry from the fanbase, it does make some sense.

Grade: C

Sit Greg Bird

Teixeira is a better option at first base than Bird is, so purely from a numbers standpoint, sitting Bird is reasonable. Bird could be due for some second year regression with the league adjusting to him, and he had a .319 BABIP in 2015, which while not egregious, suggests he was a bit lucky.   But from a developmental and long term perspective, this makes less sense.  Depriving Greg Bird of at bats for possibly a whole year could mess with him.  This move could be short-sighted, and could come back to haunt the Yankees.  On the bright side, Bird would be a valuable power bat off the bench, or for when A-Rod or Teixeira need rest, which is relatively frequently.  Still, he wouldn’t play more than two or three games a week unless there is an injury.  There’s actually some positives to this approach, but the risk of stunting Greg Bird’s development is scary.

Grade: C+

Sit Alex Rodriguez

Greg Bird shouldn’t start over Teixeira, but the difference between he and A-Rod is much closer. The challenge is that first-half Alex and second-half Alex are completely different players.

Based on the beginning of 2015, Rodriguez deserves to start. But when looking at the latter half of the year, Bird is easily the better player.  Rodriguez’s first half wasn’t a fluke. He is, or was at the time, capable of that performance. The second half wasn’t really a fluke either, though. Rodriguez wasn’t necessarily unlucky, he just wasn’t the same player. This was mostly due to fatigue which led to decreased bat speed.  The challenge is that it’s impossible to know which Rodriguez will show up next Spring. The offseason could have rejuvenated Rodriguez, and in that case, he is probably the better hitter. But if the bat speed hasn’t came back, and Rodriguez is just too old to be an offensive weapon, he should end up on the bench. A debate between Rodriguez and Bird is certainly warranted and for now, there’s no clear answer. Either way, it’s unlikely that Bird or Rodriguez is a significantly better hitter than the other. Should the Yankees sit A-Rod, they could be missing out on a player who can hit 30+ home runs.  Theoretically, Rodriguez would be a dangerous pinch hitter, but he has hit just .208 in that role over his career. This plan is flawed, but it could make the most sense. It all depends on how Rodriguez looks in the Spring. 

Grade: B-

Conclusion

When the best option for a situation grades out as B-, there’s certainly no perfect, nor good, answer. That being said, a decision has to be made. “The best player plays” approach should largely be used here, and that means that Teixeira will be starting. It’s unclear whether Rodriguez or Bird is the better option, though. At this point in time, I believe that Bird should be starting over Rodriguez. If Rodriguez shows up to Spring Training with his bat speed back and is hitting well again, though, Rodriguez deserves to start. In that scenario, Bird would be best served as a useful bench bat, who could receive two or three starts a week. Being on the bench and not receiving at bats could hurt Bird’s development, but he would still get enough at bats to stay involved. The Yankees have always complemented Bird’s makeup, and I would expect him to be fine on the bench, though getting consistent at bats in the minors isn’t a bad idea. The Yankees are in an uncomfortable situation here, but a decision will have to be made. While I think that Bird should be the team’s starting DH, it wouldn’t surprise me if Cashman sends Bird back to the minors. That will create a lot of controversy, but it’s a reasonable decision.

(Photo: Brad Penner-USA Today Sports)

Instead, Bird’s directive when he arrived was simply to give the team a boost offensively and fill in for the Yankees’ aging sluggers from time to time. He arrived with a great deal of fanfare given his success in the upper minors, but he was not meant to play a glamorous role.

Since August 13th, things have changed. Teixeira is injured and Bird has stepped in hitting sixth for a team that is in the midst of the closest division race in baseball. In theory, it’s not ideal to throw a rookie into this kind of situation, but Bird is very talented and he’s their best option.

Usually when discussing injury replacements the term “best option” simply means “least significant downgrade” and for good reason. No team has the depth to have a number of all-star level performers sitting on the bench waiting for their chance to play. That would be an incredible irresponsible allocation of resources, even for the Yankees.

Instead the type of replacements on hand when a key player is injured are either not particularly good, or very inexperienced. Bird is the latter, which carries much more upside but also a fair amount of risk. Even so, the rookie represented the best chance for this team to suffer the least from Teixeira’s absence. That was clear since they put him in the everyday lineup.

What was less clear was that the team might not suffer at all. So far not only has Bird been productive at the plate, he’s been a great facsimile of Teixeira.

The gap in power here isn’t insignificant, but the basic rate stats are undoubtedly similar. More interesting than the result themselves is the similarity in the process used to achieve them. Bird’s approach at the plate is just like Teixeira’s.

When Teixeira does take the bat off his shoulder he’s a better bet to make contact, but the swinging patterns are virtually identical.

None of this is to say that Bird is as good as Teixeira, or even that he ever will be. Even for a highly-touted prospect like him that’s an unfair expectation. Most projection systems have him as only a slightly above-average hitter from here on out.

However, for now it’s interesting how closely Bird has replicated the production and approach of the man he’s been called upon to replace. While there are some stylist differences between the two, the bottom line is that Bird has stepped in more admirably than the Yankees possiblly could have expected. This effort is one of the biggest reasons the team has remained in lockstep with the Blue Jays in Teixeira’s absence.

It’s hard to know what to expect from Bird down the stretch. These numbers come from a small sample, and projections probably still give us a better baseline of what he might do from here on out.

For the time being he’s shown himself to be a talented impressionist, and he’s impersonating one of the best.

(Editor’s note: numbers in this article are as of Monday September 7th)

(Photo: Brad Penner-USA Today Sports)

It started as an average day for the 22 year-old. He grabbed coffee and breakfast with his folks. They drove him to the park from the hotel they’re staying at. He got in his pre-game cuts and weight room exercises. Then, things became a bit different.

Bird hit his first two career home runs – both with a runner on – to give the Yankees a 4-3 win over the Twins at Yankee Stadium. The first came in the fourth inning, on a 1-0 changeup high in the zone. The second was a 1-0 fastball down and in. Both scored Carlos Beltran, who saw 11 combined pitches in the two at-bats leading up to Bird’s dingers.

“They were just great at-bats,” said Bird. “Whenever you get a guy up there who’s making the pitcher work, draws a walk, or gets on base, it puts more pressure on him. Lucky enough, he made a mistake after and I was able to capitalize on that. Hats off to him for those great at-bats in front of me. Those were terrific.”

The 4-5 combination of Beltran and Bird in the Yankees order Wednesday is symbolic of the way Bird, who only graduated High School four years ago, fits in with this veteran bunch of players. Just like Beltran, or Rodriguez, or Headley, or Ellsbury, Greg Bird has a steady approach at the plate.

“It was a short-time coming I guess,” John Ryan Murphy said. “That’s the kind of player that he is. He doesn’t leave the strike zone very often and when he gets a pitch to hit, he rarely misses it. I was looking forward to a day like this for him.”

Bird faced 10 pitches in the game, and only chased one out of the zone – a 1-0 fastball in the second inning that missed outside by a small margin.

Through five career games, Greg Bird has been very selective at the plate.

“I think he’s got a slow clock,” Joe Girardi said. “Things don’t really speed up for him. You can see it in his at-bats, you can see it in his defense. That’s not always the case with a young player.”

“This is a big comparison, and I’m not saying this is what my expectation is, but Miguel Cabrera had a slow clock and an understanding of what he wanted to. I think Greg Bird has an understanding of who he is and what he wants to do.”

At 22, Greg Bird has the offensive game of a veteran. That takes a ton of stress off of the Yankees, who are without Mark Teixeira for an undisclosed amount of time while he heals from a sore right leg. Bird can slide right into the middle of the order while Teixeira sits, and can spell Alex Rodriguez in the next month while the team gears up a for a playoff push. Bird will benefit, just as he did Wednesday, from his teammates’ careful approach at the plate.

A Miguel Cabrera comparison is large, but not necessarily naive. Cabrera’s always taken the approach of a veteran, even when he was a “wonder child” as Alex Rodriguez once described him. Both can go the other way very well, and both have incredibly quick hands.

It is, of course, too early to say for sure what the future will hold for Greg Bird. One thing is already evident – Bird is a pro’s pro, on and off the field. You wouldn’t know he shared a clubhouse with dozens of guys almost 10 years older than he is.

“It’s so much fun for me to come in every day and just watch them,” Bird said. “On the field, off the field, in [the clubhouse], talk to them, hear what they have to say – it’s really special. It’s stuff that will serve me well and that I won’t ever forget.”

He certainly won’t forget the day he hit his first big league homer, either.

(Photo: Noah K. Murray-USA Today)

• Luis Severino, RHP: Severino and Judge are essentially 1A and 1B for me, and they can really be flipped around in whatever order one so desires. Severino is dispelling doubts about his long-term viability as a starter that stemmed from his size and arm-heavy delivery. His slider, once a source of worry because it lagged behind his fastball and excellent changeup in its development, has become a more than useful pitch. He’ll make his big league debut today against the Red Sox, and we should be in for one hell of a show. In 61.1 innings at Triple-A, Severino did not allow a single home run and struck out more than a fifth of the hitters he faced. That’ll do. If he can fully put the doubters to rest, he’ll be a frontline starter for years to come.
• Aaron Judge, RF: The mountain of a man known as Aaron Judge has also reached Triple-A Scranton. He mashed his way through the minor leagues after being taken in the 2013 draft as the lowest of the three first round picks the Yankees found themselves in possession of (Eric Jagielo and Ian Clarkin were taken ahead of him). Judge plays a good right field and boasts a great throwing arm in addition to his big bat. He doesn’t sell out for power, instead focusing on a line drive approach and letting his prodigious strength account for him running into hilariously massive home runs. He’s surprisingly spry for a man of his size, and while that will likely fade as he ages, he’s a rather complete player. Judge may see the lion’s share of the playing time in right field next year.
• Greg Bird, 1B: Bird may just be the most intelligent hitter in the system. The man who served as Kevin Gausman’s catcher in high school walks quite a lot while also hitting for great power from the left side. He’s also improved substantially with the glove at first base since being converted from the backstop after the draft. He may not hit for a high average in the big leagues, but a high-OBP power bat with a .265-ish batting average could easily be in the cards here. BP’s Jeff Moore lightly threw a Lucas Duda comp on Bird before Duda turned back into a pumpkin for a while, so there’s that. Bird is a very cerebral hitter and his love for the art will take him a long way. His disposition as a natural leader in the clubhouse is an asset and he should thrive in the limelight of New York.
• Jorge Mateo, SS: It’s possible that while you read this sentence, Mateo is stealing a base. As of this writing he has swiped 71, which leads all of MLB-affiliated baseball. That statistic is probably outdated by now, however. Oh, and he’s hitting .268/.338/.378 at age 20 in Low-A, and playing a decent shortstop. There’s a mountain of potential here, and it’ll be fun to see how much power he grows into as he physically matures, and how much of that speed he’ll keep. Mateo posses one of the very few genuine 80-grade speed tools, and when that’s packaged with a player that can hit and play a legit shortstop, it’s a fantastically dangerous profile.
• James Kaprielian, RHP: Kaprielian was the Yankees’ top pick this summer, taken 16^th overall out of UCLA. While he wasn’t the sexiest of picks, Kaprielian comes with a polished package of four pitches (fastball, slider, curve, changeup) that all grade at least average or better. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, but he makes it work with his good fastball command that allows him to throw the pitch where he wants and set up his secondary stuff. Kaprielian should move quickly through the system and fill a role in the middle of a big league rotation soon.
• Gary Sanchez, C: It’s been a long road for Sanchez, who’s seemingly been around since the dawn of time. Yet Sanchez is still just 22, and is now hitting well in the upper levels of the minors. He posted a 127 wRC+ in 58 games at Double-A Trenton before being bumped up to Scranton, and he’s now swatting homers left and right. The point against Sanchez has long been his defense, but he’s shown marked improvement behind the plate in both his physical defense and his game calling. Sanchez also still possesses a Howitzer cannon for a throwing arm and loves to show it off. One would have to think that he’s first in line for a callup if an injury should befall Brian McCann.
• Eric Jagielo, 3B: Jagielo was the first of the three Yankee first round picks in 2013, and the Notre Dame product hit his stride offensively before going down with a knee injury at Double-A. Some in the organization are quite down on Jagielo’s work at third base, it should be noted, as he can look almost statuesque at times. Before his injury, he was beginning to see time at first base. However, a 50 bat with plus power will play just about anywhere, if Jagielo can cut down on the number of ugly-looking strikeouts he falls victim to. Jagielo felt like trade-bait before the injury. The organization will likely send him out to the Arizona Fall League to make up for lost time and his performance there will be telling.
• Rob Refsnyder, 2B: Refsnyder is easily one of the most stymieing players in the system. A converted outfielder, Refsnyder lacks some of the basic defensive instincts necessary to succeed at second base. That may not be the final book on him when all is said and done, but it’s certainly the case right now that’s deploying a mixture of Brendan Ryan and Stephen Drew at second base a level above Refsnyder. He seems to have a propensity to rush routine plays and botch double play balls, but at the same time Refsnyder displays an advanced feel for hitting. His meteoric rise through the system last year has predictably not held up this season, but he’s still one of the best hitters on a Triple-A squad that now also features Judge and Bird. He won’t hit for that level of power, but it’s a major league bat. The glove will be the key to whether or not the Yankees view him as a big league player.
• Ian Clarkin, LHP: Nobody is quite sure what sort of arm injury is causing Clarkin to sit out the season. If he were healthy, he would likely be ranked much higher. All of his pitches are average or better, led by his nasty curveball. Clarkin figures to be a member of the front portion of a big league rotation, but that all depends on how he returns from his mysterious ailment. Such his life. He’s still quite active on Twitter, though.
• Brady Lail, RHP: Speaking of meteoric rises, Lail just reached Triple-A at the age of 21. Like Kaprielian, he doesn’t throw overly hard but instead relies on location and movement to keep hitters off balance. The product of a Utah high school known much more for football than baseball, Lail would be just the 40^th big leaguer from the state should he reach the Bronx. Lail is a remarkably coachable pitcher and now that he’s overthrowing his fastball far less, his control of all of his pitches is resulting in quite a lot of weak contact. He’ll likely spend most (if not all) of next year in Scranton refining his craft for the final jump, but the stuff that had made Lail a sleeper has put him directly on the radar.
• Rookie Davis, RHP: Recently promoted to Double-A, Davis has drawn quite a bit of attention for striking out 25.9% of opposing hitters while walking just 4.4% and reaching 96 MPH on his fastball. Though he’s still developing his changeup, Davis’ curve is more than enough for the time being to act as a reliable second offering. The development of the changeup will be what decides whether Davis continues as a starter or turns into a nightmarishly good reliever. Obviously the Yankees hope he can stick in a rotation, but the stuff could play up even more in short stints if all else fails.
• Jacob Lindgren, LHP: Lindgren surfaced briefly in majors this season before being sent down and then sidelined with bone spurs in his elbow. Drafted in the second round in 2014, Lindgren put up eye-popping numbers in the minors in his ascension to Yankee Stadium. His wipeout slider is his calling card that allows him to pitch effectively against batters regardless of handedness, and he can reach 95 on his fastball. What prevents me from being as high on Lindgren as everyone else is his spotty control. What we saw in his time in the big leagues was likely a partial result of those bone spurs, but there’s the potential here for more walks than one would like to see. When he’s right, however, Lindgren also induces a silly amount of ground balls, so there’s closer material here.
• Nick Goody, RHP: I was sorely, sorely tempted to rank Goody higher, and this is undoubtedly the highest you’ll see him ranked anywhere. It could very overzealous, but I’ve seen enough of Goody to drink the Kool-Aid. Whenever he was inserted into a game at Double-A, Goody was basically a cheat code. Over 41.2 innings, he struck out 59 and walked 14. At the time of his promotion to Scranton, he led the whole team in strikeouts, including the starters. He’s been just as good at Scranton, and the control issues he’s had in his very brief cameos in the bigs this month are likely a result of simple jitters. Goody’s makeup is through the roof, so don’t expect that to last. He does it all without throwing overly hard, instead relying on movement and a plus curveball to get his work done. I can’t heap enough praise upon this player.
• Hoy Jun Park, SS: Signed out of South Korea last year in the Yankees’ international spending bonanza, Park is playing in short-season Pulaski at age 19. There’s plenty of growth left here, but Park is already a plus defender at shortstop and holding his own at the plate. He walks at an encouraging clip and some more power should come as he fills out more. An assignment to Charleston to start next year would not be surprising. Park may end up as a glove-first player when all is said and done, but his bat will be more than enough. He’s certainly one to watch next year.
• Tyler Wade, 2B/SS: Take everything about Park and flip it on its head. Wade can hit and hit and hit some more. His bat just got him promoted to Trenton last night. Wade’s problem is fielding. He’s got the range to stick at shortstop, but a high number of errors highlight his need to improve the steadiness of his hands if he wants to stick at the position. The good news is that he’s just 20 years old, so he’s been young for his level and the promotion to Double-A only accentuates that more. Wade has plenty of time to steady himself, and could turn into quite a fun player. He and Park can be easily flipped in these rankings without any loss of sleep.

Some other players to keep an eye on are outfielders Dustin Fowler and Mark Payton, injured catcher Luis Torrens (who would have likely made the list if he was healthy), infielders Thairo Estrada, Abi Avelino, Kyle Holder, and Miguel Andujar, and a gaggle of pitchers including Bryan Mitchell, Jordan Montgomery, Jonathan Holder, Cale Coshow, Domingo Acevedo, Drew Finley and Jeff Degano. Things are getting exciting down on the farm.

(Photo: Kim Klement-USA Today Sports)