Greg Bird's troublesome rehab process has been shut down again and general manager Brian Cashman said Monday that the next step could be exploratory surgery on his right ankle, which mysteriously still is causing him discomfort.
Bird, who has been on the disabled list since May 2 with what originally was diagnosed as a bone bruise, struggled to even take batting practice this past week at Triple-A Scranton, prompting the Yankees to call him back to New York. The plan is for Bird to see another round of specialists, but that won't happen until after the Fourth of July holiday.
"Obviously, there's something going on that we haven't been able to get our hands on," Cashman said before Monday night's game against the Blue Jays. "All the diagnostic testing has shown the bone bruise has healed, but yet he still has pain."
Bird, 24, began the season as the Yankees' starting first baseman and No. 3 hitter, but his ankle never seemed to recover from him fouling a pitch off it toward the end of spring training. He played only 19 games, batting .100 (6-for-60) with a home run and three RBIs, before winding up on the DL and beginning a rehab assignment June 1.
But that only lasted a total of 12 days before Bird was sent for more tests. After a June 20 cortisone shot, the Yankees were hopeful he would rebound. For whatever reason, that hasn't been the case.
"We've had circumstances where guys have a problem, they do MRIs, they do X-rays and it shows nothing, nothing, nothing," Cashman said. "And then you open them up, and then they find stuff. 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."
