Surgery is now option for Bird
THE YANKEES are no closer to solving Greg Bird’s right ankle woes, and now surgery is an option for the 24-year-old first baseman.
“Obviously there’s something going on that we haven’t been able to get our hands on,” GM Brian Cashman said Monday, before the Yankees’ 6-3 victory over the Blue Jays at the Stadium. “Worst-case scenario, you do maybe an exploratory surgery to find out what (is wrong). Sometimes diagnostic testing doesn’t show it. All diagnostic testings are negative. That’s why. And all the di- agnostic testing has shown the bone bruise is healed, but yet he still has pain.”
Bird visited foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in North Carolina two weeks ago, and Anderson diagnosed Bird with inflammation in the injured ankle. Anderson administered a cortisone shot and told Bird to take three to six days off before resuming baseball activity.
However, Bird’s ankle has not responded to the cortisone shot as well as the Yankees had hoped. He’s been taking batting practice with Triple-A Scranton but has not returned to rehab games.
“Usually it happens with pitchers, where they have a problem, they do MRIs, they do Xrays and it shows nothing, nothing, nothing. And then you open them up, and then they find stuff,” Cashman said. “So I certainly have no interest in volunteering that we’re going to have to open him up, but at some point, I can’t say a surgery for something undetermined isn’t possible, because so far, the complaints are real.
“He can’t play, he wants to play, and we haven’t been able to get him back. And so that’s why we’ll send him to more doctors and see if there’s any new information that can be found. We’re doing everything we can. He’s trying to share all the information he can, but right now, we’re all flying blind.”
Bird saw six or seven doctors before meeting with Anderson, according to Cashman.
“We’re going to continue to pry and probe and get as many doctors involved and try to determine what’s going on,” Cashman said.
Bird hopes surgery is a last resort.
“I think that’s a long ways away, to be honest,” Bird said after Monday’s victory. “I think there’s still a lot of different options, a lot of things to work on, and we’ll kind of take it from there.
“You don’t want to have surgery. I’ve had surgery. It sucks. I’m not going to lie.”
Bird — who missed all of 2016 with a shoulder injury — first suffered the bone bruise in his right ankle when he fouled a ball off his leg in spring training. He started the season in the big leagues but hit just .100 with one homer and three RBI over the first month of the year and fouled another ball off the same right leg during a series against the Pirates in April. The Yankees then placed Bird on the disabled list on May 2.
Bird hit .143 in 12 rehab games in the first half of June but suffered a setback. The Yankees shut him down on June 15.