Let’s be honest, Greg Bird seems to be a fantasy implanted in GM Brian Cashman’s mind that has resulted in failure more times than not. Most would say that Bird being the future first-baseman for the New York Yankees is a pipe-dream and maybe even a pride saver for Cashman.
In reality, we know that broken wing Bird isn’t the future, in fact, he’s not the present either.
So, that begs the question:
What should the New York Yankees do at first-base in 2019?
The Yankees acquired Voit from the St. Louis Cardinals midway through the 2018 season, and my oh my, did the Pinstripes work their magic. Over 132 at-bats, Voit earned a .333 batting average with 14 homers. Lets suppose Voit had 600 at-bats like some of his teammates — Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar, etc. — he would have hit nearly 65 homers last season. Now, that’s an excessive number and a theoretical one at best, but you can see how productive he was in such a short amount of time in the Bronx.
Bird on the other hand hit .199 over 272 at-bats with 11 homers. He also struck out 78 times, which is about a quarter of his total at-bats. That’s bad, and despite his abilities at first-base, his hitting was so poor that Voit should automatically receive the first crack at the starting job.
Moving forward, the Yankees might want to look into finding a long-term solution after the 2019 season, assuming Voit doesn’t miraculously develop over night. His career stats don’t look bad when it comes to the numbers, but he hasn’t received consistent playing time to really prove he can be a serious option for the future.