New York Yankees: Jacoby Ellsbury needs to perform

Seven homeruns, 30 runs batted in, .251 batting average, .312 on-base percentage, and a.341 slugging percentage. Is this what a $153 million player looks like?

The New York Yankees failed to pick up any ground on the first place Toronto Blue Jays last night, despite leading 3-2 at one point. The loss kept the Yankees three games behind the Blue Jays, who lost to the woeful Atlanta Braves.

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While the loss was largely due to the ineffectiveness of the bullpen, fans are undoubtedly pointing the finger at centerfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury.

Following a 0-4 night, Ellsbury is now 0 for his last 25. Ellsbury, a career .289 hitter, is now hitting .251.

Fans are beginning to worry about Ellsbury. Despite this, don’t expect those feelings to resonate with the slumping Ellsbury.

“I’ve worked too hard not to have success,” said Ellsbury to the New York Daily News. “I know it’s going to come soon.”

How soon, though?

With 18 games left in this season, and with dwindling hopes of clinching the American League East, fans are beginning to lose patience with Ellsbury. There will certainly be calls for the Yankees to bench Ellsbury.

That might not be the way to go, according to Ellsbury.

“I feel I’m an everyday player,” said Ellsbury. “You just find a way to have success. That’s what I’ve been throughout my career. You go through spells but you continue to work hard and put the time in.”

Despite this slump, which honestly goes back to early July, Ellsbury figures to be featured prominently in the Yankees lineup going forward. The team cannot simply bench someone who was deemed worthy of that large of a contract. They’ve done that before with Alex Rodriguez, but that was more of an outlier than anything else.

As for manager, Joe Girardi, he’s not planning on benching Ellsbury yet.

“He’s got to fight through it,” said Girardi to the New York Daily News. “This is a guy that we really need. We know how great a player he can be. We’ve seen it; we saw it the first two months of the year. We need to get him going.”

The Yankees rely on guys like Ellsbury and Bret Gardner to set the table for the team. If one or the other fails to do so, minimal guys will be on base for the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Brian McCann, and Greg Bird.

If teams only have to worry about getting 23 outs (let’s say that Ellsbury accounts for four outs a game), that shortens the game by an inning and a third. This means that teams only have to worry about the other seven and two-thirds innings.

And if this is the case, the Yankees will soon be able to begin making reservations at their favorite winter resort.

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