Greg Bird

[billythekid]

Just saw that Greg Bird was DFA'd by Texas. I will admit that I was rooting for Bird over Luke Voit to win the Yankees' 1B job. When Bird came up he looked like he might anchor 1B for a long time. Smooth lefty bat and above average glove. I saw Voit more as an all-or-nothing type of guy. Looks like I was wrong on both fronts.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Did any Yankees fan expect anything more than AAA depth when they first acquired Voit/Tauchman/Urshela? Incredible work by Cashman and his crew since the rebuild started.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Bird was just one of those players the Yankees hped woudl develop; but for a range of reasons, did not. Feel bad for him and wish him the best on or off the diamond.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Bird had one of the sweetest swings I've ever seen and I was sad to see him go from the Yankees. It had to be done though. He always seemed to get into really bad counts and would swing and miss at mistake pitches. I guess the RF porch at the Stadium is too juicy to pass up but I don't understand how guys can't work on taking outside pitches the other way for hits instead of trying to pull everything into the shift. Tauchman seems to do it pretty well.

 

[Deadrody]

Bird was just one of those players the Yankees hped woudl develop; but for a range of reasons, did not. Feel bad for him and wish him the best on or off the diamond.

Not really accurate. He crushed it in his rookie debut in 2015, putting up numbers consistent with really solid numbers in the minors and AZFL. And then the injury bug hit. He lost an entire year to shoulder surgery, then parts of the next two seasons with foot / ankle issues. He's certainly not the first, nor will he be the last guy with all the ability that can't stay healthy. And eventually, when you debut with success at age 22 and you can't get consistent playing time for the next 4 seasons, it's going to be an uphill climb.

Of course, as Yankee fans, we'll always have

As it turns out, he has a career postseason line of .250 / .421 / .500 in 57 PA. He was no flash in the pan