Greg Bird is Hurt!

I know, it’s not exactly a man bites dog story, but Greg Bird has resumed his Nick Johnson imitation landing on the IL with a torn plantar fascia. In a move that turns the irony dial all the way up, the Yankees have moved Jacoby Ellsbury to the 60-day DL in order to put Mike Ford on the active roster. Ford is also a lefty-hitting first baseman born in 1992, so this could be the last we hear of Greg Bird. If Ford comes in and does a credible job, the Yankees will move on from Bird, a sentence which seemed impossible 3 years ago.

But look what happened since Bird became the original baby bomber of this particular generation. He missed all of 2016 with an injury and since he got back on the field in 2017, he hasn’t been very healthy and he hasn’t hit much at all. That opened the door last year for Luke Voit, and it may open the door this year for Ford; a player the Yankees lost in the Rule 5 draft of 2017 only to get him back when Seattle decided not to keep him in the bigs. There’s playing time to be had right now and firstbase isn’t a settled position by any means. Voit sent Bird to the bench. Can Ford return the favor?