UP, UP & DECAY
Yanks’ big contracts for brief hot streaks not paying off
For the final three months of the 2011 season, Jacoby Ellsbury was the best player in the majors. In those 79 games for the Red Sox, he hit 23 homers, accumulated 52 extra-base hits, stole 14 bases, batted .345 and delivered a 1.040 OPS. Had the Red Sox held on to a mammoth September lead to make the pl ayoffs , rather than endure their famous beer-and-fried-chicken collapse that cost them the postseason, Ellsbury probably would have won the MVP rather than finish second. Neither before nor afterward has Ellsbury come close to sustaining anything like those three months. For the final two months of the 2012 season, Chase Headley might have been the best player in the majors. In those 57 games for the Padres, he hit 19 homers, accumulated 30 extra-base hits, batted .315 and delivered a 1.020 OPS — all while playing home games in arguably the worst park for offense in the sport. Had he played for a winning team, he probably would have done even better than finishing fifth for the MVP. Neither before nor afterward has Headley come close to sustaining anything like those two months. These facts feel pertinent in a week when a general consensus has grown that the Yankees should eat the final year-plus on Alex Rodriguez’s contract and Mark Teixeira announced his retirement. I have sensed — among Yankees fans, media and frontoffice types — angst about the money the team has been paying — and, in theory recently, wasting — on A-Rod and Teixeira. And, if you want, throw in CC Sabathia, too. But let’s face it. Those guys did not earn their contracts with two or three good months as an oasis in otherwise pedestrian careers.
They were brilliant year after year, and, yes, obviously, Rodriguez’s brilliance is blurred by just how much he was lifted by illegal performance-enhancers.
That trio also had extended Yankee excellence. Rodriguez won two MVPs as a Yankee. Teixeira finished second in 2009. Sabathia finished in the Cy Young top four three times. The three also were part of the cornerstone of the Yankees’ last champion, in 2009.
Did they earn every penny of their contracts? Maybe not. But they earned plenty of the pennies. Perhaps the Yankees were foolhardy in giving extensions to A-Rod and Sabathia, since it is these extensions that have gone rotten on them. However, again, those extensions were based on both players having been annual stars, including for the Yankees.
And here is the thing: Teixeira is done now, and the Yanks will be out from under A-Rod and Sabathia after the 2017 season.
Between now and then, the Yankees — and their fans — will be shifting into: How does the organization jettison other contracts? For example, the Yankees were letting teams know Ellsbury and Headley were available before the trade deadline, and let us just say there weren’t exactly long lines formed.
Headley has two years at $26 million left after this season, Brett Gardner two years at $27 million, Starlin Castro three years at $31 million and Brian McCann two years at $34 million. None are killers. Each of those players is fine. But the Yankees will want more than fine, especially as they try to integrate younger players onto the 25-man roster.
I suspect they can find trades for Gardner and McCann. The Yankees could have dealt McCann at the deadline, but value him greater than the industry right now, feeling he still is among the majors’ most productive catchers.
The big issue is going to be Ellsbury. He is owed $89.6 million from 2017-20 (including his 2021 buyout).
Ellsbury had a .928 OPS in 2011 thanks to that three-month outburst. He never has been above .781 in any other season (discounting his 33-game rookie season in 2007). That . 781 came in 2013, when he was a dynamic catalyst f or t he champion Red Sox. It also was his walk year.
He was pretty good t he following season, his first as a Yankee. But the fade in his quick-twitch skills and results have been obvious. He will have spurts of excellence. But nothing that endures. And he just cannot get through a season healthy.
Consider that he hit 32 homers in a career-high 158 games in 2011. He had 40 in his next 567 games through Thursday. It was not just that Ellsbury led the majors in steals in 2013 with 52, he was caught just four times. His steal totals have fallen since then from 39 to 21 to 17 this year, when he also has been caught stealing an AL-high eight times. He has 51 extra-base hits the past two years. Remember, he had 52 in those final three months of 2011.
Headley and Ellsbury are cautions against falling in love with players who have a strong half that looks nothing like their careers, then hoping the player will attain those heights again.
Whatever you think of Teixeira, A-Rod and Sabathia, they did not earn their contracts based on a strong half. They were great for the Yankees. They helped them win a title.
Will we ever say that about Headley or Ellsbury?