Yankees: Jacoby Ellsbury will miss the start of Spring Training
Yankees position players will officially report to Tampa for the start of Spring Training on Monday but Jacoby Ellsbury will not be in attendance. The oft-injured outfielder is reportedly now suffering from a plantar fasciitis issue and hasn’t been cleared to begin baseball activities.
On Tuesday pitchers and catchers reported to Tampa for the start of camp and Aaron Boone held his first press conference of the spring. The Yankees skipper announced the injury to Ellsbury and said that he likely won’t join the team until sometime during March.
This is another setback for Ellsbury who missed all of the 2018 season due to hip surgery and a collection of other injuries. Boone said the Yankees expected to have Ellsbury healthy and ready to compete for a job to start the spring but the plantar fasciitis will force him to stay in his native Arizona “for at least the next couple weeks.”
Based on the lack of production the Yankees have gotten from Ellsbury over the past couple seasons this isn’t all that concerning or that big of a blow to the team. I don’t think anyone was expecting Ellsbury to be a key contributor on this year’s club whether he was able to stay healthy or not. The only reason he’s probably still on the roster and hasn’t been traded is the fact that the Yanks still owe him $42M over the next two seasons before his contract finishes up.
It’s a shame for Ellsbury because he’s dealt with so many injuries throughout his career and during his tenure in New York. Now we’ll have to wait and see how he’ll bounce back from this latest injury and if he’ll be able to get healthy enough to compete for an Opening Day roster spot. The odds are definitely stacked against him, but again I don’t think management will be all that concerned if Ellsbury can’t make it back for the start of the season.
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With the news that Ellsbury will miss the start of Spring Training his teammate and fellow outfielder, Clint Frazier should get much more playing time this spring. Frazier himself missed most of last season dealing with an injury (concussion), but he enters camp fully cleared and ready to compete for the starting job in left field.
The veteran Brett Gardner is the heavy favorite to win the job but now with Ellsbury out at least until March the Yankees won’t have to split the reps between three guys. Frazier provides the most upside among the three so this could open up an opportunity for him to impress the coaching staff and make them really think about who should be the everyday left-fielder.
I still think if Frazier can stay healthy he has a great chance to eventually take the job from Gardner at some point this season, but now he might get that chance sooner than expected.