Yankees promote first base prospect Greg Bird to the majors

The Yankees have now dropped five games in a row and have surrendered the lead of the American League East to the Toronto Blue Jays. While the pitching has been fine, the offense has completely collapsed over the last week, scoring a mere six runs since their last win on August 6. It seems that the Yankees are now pulling out all the stops and are trying to get whatever offensive output they can get from the minor league system as they plan to call up first base prospect Greg Bird.

The popular Yankees prospect has hit .301/.353/.500 in 150 plate appearances since joining Triple-A Scranton in July. He has hit 12 home runs and has a .469 slugging percentage on the year, so the front office must be hoping he can add something to the struggling offense, despite not having a clear place to play every day. After Garrett Jones was designated for assignment for a second time yesterday, it appears Bird's role will be to act as the backup first baseman and designated hitter, in order to give Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez a few days off.

Despite being blocked from everyday play, the move still makes some sense as Bird would have to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason anyway in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. It will be interesting to see how they use him now and in the future, as his service clock will start, though Teixeira still has another year on his deal and A-Rod will be here through 2017.

Brian Cashman refused to trade Greg Bird, someone he called the best hitter in the Yankees system, so we'll soon see what all the fuss was about–though if you've frequented this site, you already know. Can Aaron Judge or Gary Sanchez be much further behind? Maybe we'll finally see Rob Refsnyder too?