New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi gave an update on first baseman Greg Bird and the status of his DL stint.
New York Yankees first baseman Greg Bird hasn’t seen the field since May 1 due to a bone bruise on his right ankle and manager Joe Girardi says there is no timetable for his return.
“He’s still not ready to start baseball activities,” Girardi said following New York’s 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. “When the pain is gone he’ll start.”
Bird is 6-for-60 this season (.100) and has maintained a wRC+ of 33 — the lowest among major league first baseman with at least 60 plate appearances. The 24-year-old has been sidelined since May 2 due to a pitch he fouled off his ankle at the end of spring training against the Philadelphia Phillies.
“There’s definite improvement,” Girardi said. “He’s much better than he was but our feeling is until he’s basically pain-free there’s no reason to start because he was in a situation where he felt pretty good but it kept coming back from the activity he was doing. We’re trying to heal it up.”
The performance by Bird, which is clearly a far cry from the 11 home runs he hit in 46 games back in 2015, has been the primary reason why New York has posted a -0.7 WAR from the first base position — good enough for the second-worst in baseball.
Chris Carter has seen most of the reps since Bird has been on the DL and has posted a .158/.333/.158 slash line with a .491 OPS in seven games. He also struck out twice against Dallas Keuchel on Thursday night, including a fifth strikeout with the bases loaded and just one out. In 57 at-bats, he has gone down on strikes a whopping 22 times (39 percent).
