Note: I realize this is a day late, but I wanted to include my hot sports take about Jacoby Ellsbury because I have some thoughts. Since our pageviews suck, I can do whatever I want. Here we go. New York Yankees missed the playoffs last season. This does not happen often. It was the first time since 2008 and only the second time since 1994. To add salt to the wounds, their hated rival Boston Red Sox won the World Series after being in last place the prior season. New York had a ton of money freed up for this season meaning they would likely have a big offseason. They already signed Brian McCann for 85 million over five years to be the fun police and on Tuesday, they landed Jacoby Ellsbury for a whopping 153 million over seven years. Ellsbury's signing is a major risk/reward situation and how it could affect Robinson Cano's deal.
Ellsbury is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball, but there are a ton of red flags that come with him. He has battled through a great deal of injuries throughout his career. Ellsbury played only three seasons where he played more than 145 games. Two of the last four years have featured him spending the majority of his season on the Disabled List rather than on the field. Ellsbury does not have a clean bill of health, and that would concern me if I were a Yankee fan this week. They are betting on him staying healthy, and that's like saying 'hit' on 17 at the Blackjack table.
Although it could pay off for the Yankees, the short porch in right field allows left-handed hitters like Ellsbury to have above-average seasons. Many lefties have came into Yankee Stadium and become a born-again hitter. Ellsbury only had one season where he hit more than 10 home runs and it was in 2011 when he hit 32. For his career, his batting average has been over .280 for the greater part which is what you want from a leadoff hitter, but he does not walk as much as other leadoff hitters with an average career OBP. Ellsbury did swipe 50+ bases three times during his career, but I have two questions about that with New York.... 1.) They never seem like a running team so will Ellsbury change that? 2.) He is 30, what are the odds his wheels are still that strong halfway through his contract?
Speaking of the contract, it is a massive deal for a player like Ellsbury. He received a bigger deal than Carl Crawford and I have no idea why both of them got this much money. I realize a lot of this has to do with Major League Baseball teams getting a wealth of television money meaning they can translate it over to huge deals yet still, this feels excessive for a leadoff hitter. New York has already spent 238 million dollars also know as an A-Rod, and they still need to spend money for Robinson Cano, or will they?
Ellsbury and Cano are represented by the same agent, Scott Boras, so here is my half-assed hypothesis on what is going to transpire with Yankees and Cano. New York expressed interest in Ellsbury, and Boras wanted to get him done before moving on to the bigger fish, Cano. Who knows maybe Boras said he would lower Cano's price a bit if they upped Ellsbury's contract. Even though the Yankes already have spent mega bucks on a couple players, I still think they have enough to pay for Cano. There is no reason why New York would not sign him unless some team comes through with an Alex Rodriguez-type deal which I do not see happening but then again, I expected Ellsbury to get 115-120 million dollars so what the hell do I know honestly.
Last thing, whenever a player moves from Boston to New York, there is some faux outrage about it. People act like these players care about the rivalry, but in reality, most of them do not. I also think Ellsbury is not one of the bigger personalities of the 2013 Red Sox team. If Mike Napoli or Jonny Gomes were to sign with New York, I think it would be treated as a bigger deal by actual Boston fans, not just the ones whom like to cheer for them from afar. Ellsbury will still get booed as most players do when they flip to a rival, but the vitriol will not be there like it was with Johnny Damon, the last big-name player, to move from Boston to New York.
With the McCann and Ellsbury deals, the Yankees have made one thing clear.... They want to win another World Series crown. It will be five years since their last one next October so that sounds just about right for the Empire.
Charlie.
0 comments:
Post a Comment