Yankees first baseman Greg Bird could be demoted to Triple-A

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke to reporters at the General Manager meetings in California, and he said it’s entirely possible Greg Bird could be demoted back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2019.

Bird is the word! Or is it? As we all know, Greg Bird hasn’t been able to perform to his fullest potential because of one injury after the other. In 2018, he slashed .199/.286/.386 with 11 home runs and 38 RBIs for the Yankees.

Per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com, Brian Cashman recently told reporters at the General Managers meetings, that the organization could demote Bird back to Triple-A so that he can rediscover the tools that once made him a potential cornerstone of the organization.

Due to ankle surgery, Bird wasn’t able to play for two months — from the end of March 2018 through May. Unfortunately, he never got on track last season and eventually lost his job to Luke Voit in September.

Foot and shoulder surgeries didn’t allow Bird to play at all in 2016. He also missed 116 games in 2017 and 58 games in ’18.

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Understandably, fans, like myself, have had enough of him. Eric Hubbs of Barstoolsports.com famously tweeted this Greg Bird post-game interview from last season.

“I’m just proud to be playing. I’m proud to be putting on this uniform every day and going out and playing. It’s most games I’ve ever played in the season.”

Bird’s explanation really grinds my gears, as it appeared he was not concentrating on winning, rather just being out on the field was enough. Luckily the Yankees now have Luke Voit who can easily replace Bird at first base.

Voit finished up the 2018 season slashing .308/.455/.763 while hitting 14 home runs and 33 RBIs. Not only that, but he was full of pride every time he scored runs for the team, which rubbed off on the other 24 men on the roster.

Passion was something that the Yankees were missing since Ronald Torreyes brought chemistry to the club in 2017 with his “Toe-Night Show.” Not to mention, Torreyes has a penchant for coming up clutch.

The good news is that Voit is under team control until 2021 where he will then be eligible for arbitration. It gives the Yanks an affordable option since many around baseball still wonder if Voit’s second-half production was legit.