With Mark Teixeira set to retire after this season, there will be a rare vacancy at first base at Yankee Stadium next year.
Last month, when Tyler Austin homered in his first major league at-bat, he made an emphatic opening bid to take that spot. But since that game, on Aug. 13, Austin had not collected another extra-base hit.
Another suitor for the Yankees’ first-base job was also present in the clubhouse Monday morning, and he, too, sounded ready to pursue the open spot.
That candidate, Greg Bird, took indoor batting practice before the Yankees’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, a positive step for a player who had had surgery in February to repair a tear of the labrum in his right shoulder.