Yankees: Despite struggles, Greg Bird is still the best option at first base

Greg Bird hasn’t lived up to expectations so far this season, but over the weekend he showed signs of breaking out of another extended slump. Bird helped the Yankees finish off a sweep of the Blue Jays with a home run in back to back games including a grand slam Sunday afternoon.

The Yankees have waited on Bird to develop into another young star player for them ever since he burst onto the scene back with 11 home runs in 46 games back in 2015. They’ve always had high hopes for him even as injuries have continued to plague him over the last three seasons.

I believe that had Bird been able to stay healthy over these last three years he’d be the force in the middle of the Yankees lineup they expected him to be. However, I think it’s also fair to say that because of the injuries we may never see him reach his full potential in pinstripes. I still think he’s better than the player he’s been for much of the season, but the days of thinking he could be a future all-star might be behind us.

Bird in 2018: .211 AVG, .303 OBP, .717 OPS, 11 HR, 35 RBI, 13 2B

That being said Bird is still the Yankees best option to be the starting first basemen. As bad as his numbers have been he’s still the most talented option they have on their roster to play the position. He may never reach his full potential, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t be a productive player from here on out.

It’s maddening how inconsistent he has been, but who’s very important to the Yankees if they want to reach their goal of winning a championship. This team isn’t going to win a World Series with Neil Walker playing first, but with Bird, they can. Walker is a solid veteran but his best days are behind him while Bird’s still might be ahead of him.

Tyler Austin was solid against left-handers, but he couldn’t hit righties and the Yankees traded him away and acquired Luke Voit to replace him in the Chasen Shreve deal. We can all agree that Voit isn’t the answer either so even though Bird has really struggled a lot at times this season there really isn’t a better internal option to replace him.

Like I said, Bird might never live up to his potential but he’s still only 25 years old with a swing that’s built for Yankee Stadium. He’s only hit 7 home runs in the Bronx this season, but two of them came this weekend, both on fastballs on the inside corner that he pulled into the second deck in right field.

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One thing Bird has struggled with is catching up to fastballs and turning on them with power. Pitchers attack him all the time with heaters near the top of the strike zone and for the most part, he’s been fouling them off, swinging through them or lifting lazy fly balls to left field.

Two straight games with a home run is a small sample size, but you have to consider it encouraging after Bird came into play Saturday with a .132 AVG with zero home runs and TWO RBI in August.

With Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge already out of the lineup and Didi Gregorius likely to join them following his injury on Sunday that leaves the Yankees without their two, three and four hitters from last year’s postseason lineup. It also leaves them without their best left-handed power source this season. That’s why they need Bird to be one of the guys who can step up and continue to make strides in the right direction.

We saw Bird go one a hot two-week stretch back in July that had many fans including myself believing he was about to take off. I’m done being overly optimistic about two good games from Bird, but again who else do the Yankees have to turn to take the majority of the at-bats at first base?

If Bird’s not the guy moving forward the Yankees can rethink who they want as their long-term first basemen in the offseason. But for the time being, they should ride or die with Bird. Even though the combination of the injuries and the fatigue from playing a career high in games could wear on him the further we get into the season he still has the upside to be an impact player. If he is, in fact, healthy there’s no reason not to keep throwing him out there and hope that he can find that consistent power stroke from the left side.

In the end, the decision to stick with Bird might blow up in the Yankees faces, but then that would be management’s fault for not trading for an upgrade prior to the trade deadline. However, I still think Bird has more to offer down the stretch and the reward for sticking with him over any other internal option is the greatest.