New York Yankees: Who’s on first for the Yanks? It’s up in the Air
By Ed Stein
Entering spring training, the New York Yankees have several candidates to be the everyday first baseman. Here is a look at the contenders.
Recent History
Mark Teixeira was the New York Yankees first baseman from the time he arrived in 2009 until his retirement in 2016. What followed Teixeira in 2017 was a revolving door of less than stellar replacements such as Chase Headley and Chris Carter, until Greg Bird returned in mid-August from the minors and got hot through the playoffs.
Going into 2018 the New York Yankees looked set at first base for the foreseeable future. It was Bird’s job, and if someone else wanted the position they had to take it from him. Unfortunately for Bird, he battled injuries all season and was a shell of the player Yankees management and fans expected to see.
His problems led to another season of rotating first basemen in the post-Teixeira era. Neil Walker and Tyler Austin were the main replacements until general manager Brian Cashman made a deal with St. Louis, two days before the trade deadline, for Luke Voit.
Here we are on the precipice of 2019 spring training and the first base job is up in the air again. It could be Bird if he shows he has bounced back. Maybe Voit did enough after his arrival to convince manager Aaron Boone that he can be counted on as the starter. There are some new faces on the roster that could be in the mix. Then again the 2019 first baseman may not even be a member of the pinstripes yet.
With this, we take a look at some of the possible options for who could play first base for the Yankees in 2019.
Let’s start with the favorite.