Blue Jays sign former Yankee Greg Bird to a MiLB deal

While the lockout continues, the Blue Jays have managed to find a few players on MiLB deals, including former Yankee first baseman Greg Bird. MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson announced the deal on Twitter on Thursday morning.

Bird was a 5th round pick in the 2011 draft by the Yankees, and was once viewed as the first baseman of the future in New York. Unfortunately a variety of performance and injury struggles have held him back from reaching that potential.

The 29 year now was a career slash line of .211/.301/.421 with 32 home runs and 98 RBI over the course of 186 career games. Viewed simple like that it looks like Bird could have some potential, especially in the power department, and it’s possible that he could find his footing at the highest level before he hangs up his spikes. That said, he’ll serve pretty much purely as depth in the Blue Jays’ organization, especially with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cemented in as the first baseman for 2022 and beyond.

Bird’s best season came in 2015 when he was a 22 year old rookie. That year he hit 11 home runs and added 31 RBI over just 46 games played, covering only 157 at-bats. He also slashed an impressive .261/.343/.529, and his lefty bat looked like the perfect fit in New York.

That introduction to the league is what made Yankees fans believe in him for as long as they did, but eventually their patience ran out. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2019 while still in the Yankees’ organization, and he spent the 2021 campaign in Triple-A after signing a MiLB deal with the Rockies.

Bird is the type of player that could come up to the big leagues to cover for an injury, or maybe even to provide a left-handed bat off the bench, but he’s likely going to have to impress in Spring Training to even get that opportunity. For the Blue Jays, it never hurts to have some depth, and there’s no such thing as a bad MiLB deal.