TORONTO — The original plan was for Greg Bird to play at Triple-A and be ready in case Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira went down. Like a lot of plans in sports, that was wrecked before it got started when Bird required season-ending shoulder surgery.
Plan B was signing Chris Parmelee in late February to play first at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Now the Yankees are exploring a third option in Nick Swisher, and they are doing it based on what they saw when the Braves played the Yankees in spring training and ignoring the word among scouts from other organizations that the 35-year-old switch-hitter is done due to recent knee problems.