Yankees' Greg Bird To Miss 2016 Season With Torn Labrum
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Greg Bird, who made a boisterous entrance into the major leagues as a rookie with the Yankees last year, will miss the entire 2016 season with a shoulder injury, the team announced Monday.
Bird has been diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder and is set to undergo surgery Tuesday. The injury is a recurrence of an injury he suffered in the minor leagues in May 2015.
1B Greg Bird will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a right shoulder labrum tear and will miss the 2016 season.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 1, 2016
Bird stepped into the Yankees' lineup in August after Mark Teixeira went out with a leg injury that later proved to be season ending. In 46 big-league games, Bird hit 11 homers.
With Teixeira due back, Bird was expected to begin this season in Triple-A Scranton. But the Yankees were counting on him as a potential call-up in the event of injuries to Teixeira or designated hitter Alex Rodriguez.
2017 plan is in question too as Bird loses a critical year of development. Maybe a stopgap option? Maybe that's Teixiera??
— Sweeny Murti (@YankeesWFAN) February 1, 2016
Bird, 23, was drafted out of high school by the Yankees in the fifth round in 2011.