We have forgotten about the existence of Greg Bird in the New York Yankees organization, and time is ticking to make a decision on his future. The Yankees have until December 2nd to make a final decision, but the first deadline is today.
It is the final day to protect players from the Rule 5 draft by putting them on the 40 man roster. They could DFA him and risk losing him in the Rule 5 draft, or keep him on the 40 man for now.
But, they need to decide by December 2nd weather to tender him or not, meaning decide if they want to keep him or release him to free agency.
So what should the Yankees do with him? In my opinion, they should let him walk.
Bird has yet to put up solid numbers with the Yankees and the team has a lot of depth. His career average is .211 in 611 at-bats, and is only really known for his homerun in game three of the 2017 ALDS, a game that the team won 1-0 and staved off elimination from the Cleveland Indians. As we all know, the Yankees won that series and came a game away from the World Series.
There are also several other guys that can play first base for the Yankees. DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit are the obvious ones, Miguel Andujar may shift to first base, and Mike Ford has proven lefty power.
Keeping Greg Bird around would just eat up roster space. He would also be in AAA and probably extremely unhappy. Injuries have been a huge issue for him too, but may thrive on a different team or even overseas.