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Ailing Bombers' outfield could actually benefit from Jacoby returning to action
TAMPA — This won’t go down as the best day in Yankees camp, if nothing else than for this reason:
Jacoby Ellsbury ranked as the second-least discouraged center fielder at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Yes, the Yankees’ $153 million apparition still roams among the living, we confirmed on Sunday, as he reported to spring training about a month later than his teammates. Plantar fasciitis, an unanticipated side effect he incurred while rehabilitating from last year’s surgery, had kept him flying solo in Arizona, just as he operated lone-wolf style for the entirety of 2018 while coping with enough ailments to fill a season’s worth of “House” episodes.
The 35-year-old walked gingerly through the Yankees’ clubhouse, although he moved more conventionally when departing the premises, at which point he told three reporters to have a great day; he intends to formally address the media on Monday.
In Clearwater, where the Yankees played one of two split-squad road games, Aaron Boone said Ells- bury, who underwent his annual physical examination Sunday, has been limited to swinging a bat off a tee and throwing short distances. To try to speculate when he could help the Yankees would be even sillier than committing a sevenyear deal to Ellsbury in the first place, and that goes down as the Yankees’ silliest decision since opting for Kei Igawa over Ted Lilly.
Ellsbury’s locker here, described recently by The Post’s Mike Vaccaro as barren and lifeless, announced its occupant’s return with Ellsbury’s Louis Vuitton bag, Mariucci bat and Rawlings glove, although Ellsbury proved too busy to sit and kibitz with his teammates, some of whom could use a pick-me-up of any kind.
Aaron Hicks, Ellsbury’s successor in center field, received a second cortisone shot in his ailing lower back, and he’s resigned to starting this season — this next chapter of his career, really, in light of the $70 million over seven years the Yankees just gave him — on the injured list. He can’t return to action before the Yankees’ April 4 game in Baltimore against the terrible Orioles.
Young Estevan Florial, the Yankees’ top-ranked prospect by most outlets, wore a brace on his right wrist after suffering a non-displaced fracture in Saturday’s game. He’ll get a more concrete prognosis in the next couple of days — he doesn’t expect to require surgery — but this becomes the second straight season in which the 21-year-old suffered a significant injury; he broke his right hamate bone last year.
At least Brett Gardner, now your Opening Day center fielder, came to work in fine spirits. And the concrete news about Hicks makes it likely that both Greg Bird and Luke Voit, each young man killing it in the battle for first base, will make the big-league roster.
All of this outfield drama supports the argument that the Yankees could have found room for Bryce Harper if only they were willing to exceed the Red Sox’s payroll. Shoot, Harper’s $25.38 million annual average value with the Phillies doesn’t greatly exceed Ellsbury’s $21.86 million with the Yankees, much of which insurance covered last year. Instead, the Yankees will hope Hicks recovers quickly, Clint Frazier rediscovers his mojo while playing every day at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Florial returns sooner than later.
The coming and going of the Yankees’ past, past/present, present and future center fielders on Sunday, with much of the team gone to other ballparks for games, created a surreal vibe. You half-expected Bernie Williams to stroll in, as he stopped by just a few days prior, and maybe Mickey Rivers, the elder Ken Griffey and Bubba Crosby, too.
Nothing, though, could trump the return of Ellsbury for surreality. What’s crazier is that, given the state of their outfield, the Yankees could actually benefit from having him return to life, to active play, this season.