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After Tex: Bird, Austin could battle for 1st in ’17
- Updated: August 6, 2016
NEW YORK — Mark Teixeira never required much of a primer on the Yankees’ rich history at first base, having grown up admiring Don Mattingly’s all-around excellence from afar. In recent decades, that job title was handed from “Donnie Baseball” to Tino Martinez and then Jason Giambi.
It is about to be passed on once again, with Teixeira announcing on Friday that he will retire at the conclusion of the 2016 season. Manager Joe Girardi said that the Yankees’ next first baseman may already be in the system, suggesting that Tyler Austin and Greg Bird could be battling for the job next spring.
“I think there’s going to be a really good competition next year, and I think it’ll bring out the best in both of them,” Girardi said.
Bird, 23, showed last season that he was not intimidated by the big league stage. The left-handed-hitting slugger connected for 11 home runs in 46 games after Teixeira was lost for the year to injury, helping the Yanks reach the American League Wild Card Game against the Astros.
In February, Bird had season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He has been working out at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla., swinging and throwing. Girardi said that Bird is preparing for a possible stint in the Arizona Fall League.
“We’ve always believed in him,” Girardi said. “I think …
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