Yankees need to cut ties with Jacoby Ellsbury, once and for all

Jacoby Ellsbury is no longer the player he once was. Age has caught with him leading to one injury after the other. The Yankees should further the youth movement in 2019, and officially cut ties with Ellsbury.

Ah, yes. We’re back to the Jacoby Ellsbury Yankees saga. In December 2013, the Yanks signed Ellsbury to a seven-year deal, $153 million contract which also included a no-trade clause. FYI, he has two full years left on the deal and a $5 million team buyout in 2021.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is a genius at acquiring talent, but this signing was one of, if not his worst.

Robinson Cano declined the Yankees offer of a seven-year, $175 million contract and signed with the Mariners for 10 years and $240 million instead, that same winter. Essentially, the Yanks swapped Ellsbury for Cano — and it hasn’t worked out.

Ellsbury seems incapable of finding his way off the disabled list, and because of it, fans despise him. I can’t imagine how it would be if/when he returns — how the Bleacher Creatures would react. Just look at the numerous tweets directed towards the former Red Sox center fielder.

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At this point, I don’t see how Ellsbury can ever again be a benefit to the Yankee roster. The Bombers are in full swing with the youth movement, and that shouldn’t change.

The outfield is full as well, with Brett Gardner, Andrew McCutchen (who was recently acquired as an insurance policy for Aaron Judge), Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Clint Frazier (whose is out for the season due to post-concussion symptoms). There’s simply no place to put Ellsbury. The only good thing I see about his game is his ability to draw catcher’s interference, but come on!

From Wallace Matthews of Forbes.com, it seems that an insurance policy is paying the majority Ellsbury’s salary since he can’t play due to injury, so that’s helping Cashman and the Steinbrenner’s payroll concerns. Unfortunately, it does nothing to adjust the tax luxury threshold. That would have been tremendous if it did.

There have been rumors that the Yankees have tried to trade Ellsbury but no luck to that end, especially with Ellsbury having the final say due to his no-trade clause. With little to no stock value, dealing Ellsbury is next to impossible.

Having not played a single inning this season results in another colossal waste of $21 million. I’m sure Ellsbury would love to play baseball again, so in that case, if I were him, I would accept a trade deal to any team that would have me and enjoy the last three years of baseball in return.

Of course, the Yanks would need to eat a gigantic portion of Ellsbury’s remaining $63 million.

Ellsbury had arthroscopic surgery on August 7 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York to repair a torn labrum in his left hip. His recovery time frame is six months, officially ending his season before it ever began.

Next. Judge taking a stand against social media negativity. dark

Prior to the surgery, Ellsbury didn’t seem to want to leave New York — insisting that he intended to return to action. However, would the Yankees jeopardize a 25-man roster spot in 2019 for a player making $21M — that is unable to offer much in return in the way of production? Doubtful.

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