Greg Bird missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. I am not sure but I do not think that he played any winter ball. This to me means that he will be very rusty come ST. He is slated as our starting 1b.
I think that if he will struggle mightly in the beginning but pick it up by mid year. I see him finishing strong. Talent wise he is not a .300 hitter but I definatley could see him with the following end year stats
.260 70 runs 22-24 hrs 75 rbi's obp .315 and ops of 775.
what say you?
After that - would agree with the .260 BA and hopefully a .340 or so OBP. With that many AB and manning a corner IF position he should put up 15-20 HR and around 80 RBI.
.264/.344/489 for a wRC+ of 123.
96 games, 19 HR, 50 R, 56 RBI, 2 SB
Depth Charts projection have same rate stats but 83 games played so fewer counting stats. Depth Charts combines ZiPS and Steamer with playing time allocated by Fangraphs' staff.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=14131&position=1B - ( New Window )
Didn't he have the torn labrum? I've had a few of those surgeries and it shouldn't effect his baseball swing much at all. It definitely effects your throwing, but not the swing. Sometimes a long time off can help a hitter, not sure he's going to be rusty.
You want to hear the excuse my best friend (a die hard Mets and National League fan) has for hating the Yanks with such a deep seated passion? It's because the Yankees don't put the player's name on the back of their uniforms. He says the Yankees are so damn arrogant that they think everyone knows who the players are so putting a name on their jersey is unnecessary. I think the real reason he hates the Yankees so much is that his team sucks and he doesn't think the DH rule is (in his words) "real baseball"...lol