MATTINGLY TALKS STANTON
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Super agent Scott Boras said client Jacoby Ellsbury doesn’t feel like the odd man out of a crowded Yankee outfield. “Right now he’s pretty excited. Talked to him yesterday. He feels he’s going to be a major part of what they’re doing,” Boras said. “I think there’s going to be a competition in New York. They have a lot of diamonds in their jewelry store, no question about it. It’s going to be a very healthy environment and Jacoby has done a lot of big things in a lot of big situations in a lot of big cities, so competition does not in any way do anything but exhilarate him.”
Ellsbury is supposedly coming to spring training to compete for the job in center field with Aaron Hicks, who has supplanted him on the depth chart. But it’s also possible the Bombers could look to move on from his three-year, $68 million deal (which contains a notrade clause).
If the Yankees were to move Ellsbury, they’d have to convince him to waive his no-trade clause, probably pay some of his remaining money owed and attach prospects as a sweetener.
Don Mattingly realizes it was time for Giancarlo Stanton to move on.
“I texted back and forth with G through the course of the winter,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, he won a lot of awards, congratulations type thing. Sent him a text the other day as I watched the press conference. I told him New York’s a great place to play. You’re never as a manager sitting there and even going to act like you’re going to be better or we can fill that spot right now — a guy that hits 59 homers, drives in 130-something runs.
“But on the back side of that, you recognize it still didn’t work, and it wasn’t working. We haven’t been able to put a winning season together in a while. So there needed to be a change. And I know the fans of South Florida have been through this, but this is going to be different. This is a new group. You hope they’ll have some patience with the new group because I think the difference is going to HOWARD SIMMONS/NEWS be there’s going to be a sustainable model that’s going to be consistent with decisions based on continued development, continued growth, putting together an organization that has a chance to compete year in, year out.”
Mattingly said the criticism Derek Jeter has received was off base.
“Well, I know what goes on from the inside, so I know it’s unfair,” Mattingly said. “But I think, if you look at — Derek may be the first to admit, ‘Hey, I would do some things maybe a little differently.’”
Jeter, however, said earlier this week that he wouldn’t have changed any of his decisions thus far.
“He’s got a lot on his plate, a lot going on, a lot happening very fast, but I fully expect any adjustments that he has to make or that he thinks he has to make, we’re just going to move forward. We’re not going to look back.”