TAMPA — Greg Bird has encountered yet another obstacle going into this spring, his fourth since bursting onto the scene in 2015, when he hit 11 homers in 46 games after being called up in mid-August.
He missed the following season with a torn labrum in his shoulder suffered during the offseason. He was sidelined again in 2017 when he had to get a bone removed from his ankle after fouling a ball off it. And Bird was limited to 82 mostly ineffective games last season when a bone spur in the same ankle shelved him again.
This time, he has to battle Luke Voit, who took Bird’s job last season.