When Yankees GM Brian Cashman signed Neil Walker preseason for just $4.5 million, I lauded the signing as a genius move and even wrote an article about it.
Walker, at that time, seemed like the perfect fit with Tyler Wade, who is back at AAA, and a great backup option at 1B for then healthy Greg Bird. Things change quickly in baseball. Bird once again didn’t make it out of spring training and Tyler Austin got his chance. Austin has been everything the Yankees expected from Bird offensively and even more defensively.
Walker, however, in 22 games has a negative WAR-.