Despite having a terrible season plagued by more injuries, Bird should be back with the Yankees in 2019 and he’ll likely be given an opportunity to win back his starting job next spring according to manager Aaron Boone. Boone also said that Voit has a leg up on the competition right now but a lot can change between now and opening day.
Management isn’t going to hand Bird the job based just on his potential because Voit proved last season that he has the tools to be a legitimate middle of the lineup bat. The sample size for Voit in 2018 was a small one but the numbers he produced with just 132 at-bats cannot be ignored because they were truly remarkable.