New York Yankees first baseman Greg Bird will miss the 2016 season with a shoulder injury, Joel Sherman at the New York Post reports.
According to Sherman, Bird will undergo surgery on his shoulder on Tuesday and he will miss "all of the 2016 season" as he recovers from the procedure. Sherman writes that Bird had issues with the shoulder last season while playing in the minor leagues and that he "felt it again" during the offseason. Bird was "diagnosed with torn labrum" and now will have the injury repaired with surgery.
Bird was expected to start the season in the minors and he likely would have been the first player called up if Mark Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez went down with injuries. Last season Bird was called up and played in 46 games for the Yankees, hitting .261 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI. Bird is one of the top prospects in the Yankee system and now he will be focused on getting healthy for 2017.
Bird played significant time for the Yankees last season while Teixeira was dealing with a leg injury. The injury to Bird now puts more pressure on Teixeira to stay healthy and could spark GM Brian Cashman to make a free agent move or another trade. Teixeira is signed through the 2016 season and will be a free agent next winter.