Yankees' Greg Bird could be back by this weekend

Yankees drop hints on what they’ll do with their roster when Greg Bird comes off the disabled list.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Yankees‘ lineup – knock on wood – should be whole for the first time this season very soon.

By Saturday or Sunday, Yankees first baseman Greg Bird could be off the disabled list and making his 2018 debut

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“I think there is a shot that he could be back this weekend,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday. “Obviously, it’s something that we continue to evaluate and talk about.”

Rehabbing from March ankle surgery, Bird was 0 for 3 Tuesday night in his second Triple-A game and 10th overall at three levels. On Monday night, he hit a two-run, first-inning homer off Pawtucket left-hander Jalen Beeks in a 1-for-3 showing that included a walk.

Overall, Bird is hitting hit just .172, but he’s 3 for 12 with two homers and four runs in his last four.

“We feel like he’s built some momentum swinging the bat down there,” Boone said. “We feel like the reports we’re getting are positive, so the expectation is (he’ll) walk into our lineup and be an impact player.”

The Yankees will be home this weekend for a series against the Los Angeles Angels, and Sunday’s series finale will be super hyped, especially in Japan, with Masahiro Tanaka pitching against two-way rookie star Shohei Ohtani.

According to Boone, Bird’s first game back could be Saturday or Sunday, but “Friday might be a little early.”

The Yankees will need to make big decisions before and after Bird returns.

The first will be whether to stick with 13 pitchers and a three-man bench or go to 12 pitchers and four reserves so that Tyler Austin and Neil Walker, the Yankees’ hot platoon first basemen, can both stick around.

On Tuesday, Boone made it seems as if Austin is going nowhere when he was asked if Bird will be the full-time starter at first or share the position upon his return.

“We’ll see how that plays out and we’ll see matchups and stuff,” Boone said. “Tyler’s put himself in a very good position. He’s having a lot of success. He’s having a big hand in us winning games, so I definitely see a role for both of them.”

Despite mostly just playing against lefties, Austin leads all AL rookies with eight homers and 23 RBIs.

Another upcoming decision for Boone will be where to hit Bird. The manager likes to split his lefties, and until the last few days lefty-swinging shortstop Didi Gregorius mostly was hitting third between righty-hitting sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

With Gregorius in a bad slump – he was 2 for 47 in his last 11 games through Monday – the lefty-hitting Bird could be plugged in the three hole right off the bat.

“It just kind of depends on our lineup that day and the matchup,” Boone said. “I would say there’s a chance that he could be in that (third) spot.

“One of the things that I’m trying to do as best I can is split up our lefties. It also depends a lot on the opponent, not only the starting pitcher that day, but how we evaluate their bullpen and how we like to split up guys based on the potential matchups we could see late in the game.”

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