Ellsbury must prove his worth
It’s time for him to show he deserves $21 million annually.
TAMPA — In 2011, the season Jacoby Ellsbury finished runner-up to Justin Verlander for the American League MVP, he was a first-year arbitration player, earning $2.4 million from the Red Sox.
Ellsbury batted .321 with 32 home runs and a .928 OPS, a stat line that now looks like an egregious misprint on his résumé, as useful as it was two years later to get him a seven-year, $153 million contract from the Yankees.
Since that dark day Ellsbury’s pen was put to paper, he’s produced a slash line of .264/.326/.382 for the tidy annual sum of $21 million, the same amount Alex Rodriguez is being paid to be a spring-training instructor and special adviser to Hal Steinbrenner.
I f A- Rod i s a s val u a bl e a mentor as Steinbrenner claims, and can help develop Gleyber Torres, Jorge Mateo and Clint Frazier into AllSt ars, we dare say he’s a better buy than the underachieving Ellsbury, who’s been behaving like a Boston double-agent.
It’s supposed to work in reverse. Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon. Each one changed their Sox for pinstripes and won a ring, thereby cementing favoredson status in the Bronx. While Ellsbury doesn’t deserve all the blame for the Yankees’ recent downturn, he makes a convenient scapegoat for the discontent. And when the front office starts making noise about wanting more bang for its buck — as Brian Cashman mentioned last week — it’s safe to say Ellsbury is wearing a target on his back.
Not that he’s going anywhere. Ellsbury is signed t hrough 2 020, has a f ul l no-trade clause, and still is guaranteed $89 million (we’ll assume the Yankees will pass on the 2021 option). If he doesn’t pick it up a bit at the plate, and get more aggressive on the basepaths, the Bronx could start feel- ing more toasty for the center fielder.
Good thing for Ellsbury he’s the kind of guy who seems unfazed by it all. Or at least gives that impression. Ellsbury was a late arrival to Steinbrenner Field this week because of the birth of his daughter, Crew, and spent roughly seven minutes Wednesday dispassionately swatting away numerous variations of the “underperforming” question.
I f E l l s b u r y was d i s a p - pointed, or frustrated, or just felt plain-old guilty about not playing up to his past MVP-caliber potential, he didn’t express one ounce of that. When told that Cashman thought “there was more in the tank” from him, Ellsbury barely flinched.
“Last year, I hoped to have a little bit better overall season, so that’s how I look at it,” Ellsbury said. “But yeah, just continue to work hard, that’s all I can do. You’re going to have seasons where you’re a little better. Just continue to put the time in.”
The one question that did seem to t weak Ellsbury a smidge was the idea of Joe Girardi moving him down in the lineup, perhaps even much lower than he’d consider comfortable, in the bottom third.
“I’m going to talk to Joe first,” Ellsbury said. “I haven’t talked to Joe about that. Hadn’t really thought about it yet. In the offseason, it’s about you working on your skills and then coming into camp. I’m sure Joe and I will have a conversation at some point.”
How does Ellsbury think that chat will go? His .703 OPS last season ranked 48th among the 54 outfielders with enough qualifying plate appearances, and the 20 stolen bases in 148 games was stunningly low by his standards. Also, Ellsbury isn’t getting any younger. He’s 33, the age when downward trends begin. As you might expect, he brushed aside the suggestion.
“I don’t even let that enter my mind,” he said. “I still have speed, still have explosiveness, so that’s how I view it. I try not to look at age. Just how the body feels. And the body feels good.”