New York Yankees: Jacoby Ellsbury’s already bad contract just got worse

The New York Yankees and Jacoby Ellsbury have gone together like oil and water the last 10 months or so and his albatross contract just got even worse.

The New York Yankees knew a while ago but officially learned it this week that once prized center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury, is officially out for the season after getting surgery on his hip. That surgery is the icing on the injury riddled cake.

It is almost an upsetting tale what happened to Jacoby Ellsbury. He went from being a coveted center fielder to a liability in what could have been the prime of his career. So, what happened?

There are multiple things but this is just a classic example of why you play the player and not the position. What I mean by this, is at the time the Yankees needed to spend money after losing Robinson Cano and going outfield was their best bet.

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It was either bring back Curtis Granderson for what also would have been an exuberant amount of money or get the then relatively unproven Nelson Cruz or Shin-Soo Choo.

So, the market for outfielders at the time was not that spectacular. Sure, Ellsbury was a few years off an All-Star game but his biggest asset was four seasons of playing over 130 games.

Plus, the Yankees got to take away from their arch rival which is always a benefit

However, despite all the above circumstances. I still felt like his Seven-year 153 million dollar contract was absurdly over the top.

He proved to not be worth it in less than five-years of it. Sure injury problems since putting on the Pinstripes were not that big a deal until now, he still was never the most productive player. He was just kind of, well, there.

But now, with the news of him being injured for an even longer period of time just makes an already bad contract even worse.

The Yankees are probably going to try to move on from him anyway but his base salary is over $20 million a year and he comes with an expensive buyout.

So, the Yankees will trade him and pay for his contract and get a player that might turn out decent. That is much easier said than done because who wants an injury prone, already falling off in talent outfielder?

Or, they can trade him and have the team he would go to pay a bulk of the contract and get next to nothing in return.

The Yankees are in a tough situation with him.

The thing is, Ellsbury being a bust is not really Cashman’s fault even though it might be his worst ever move as a GM. The market at the time just was not that good.

The Yankees paid for a position, not a player, he had potential and showed promise but was never truly spectacular.

The injury and setbacks are just more or less emphasizing that he is not valuable to the Yankees. It took more injuries in the outfield for people to even bring up his name again this year. The injuries are not Jacoby’s fault either. They simply just happen.

So, yes, the Jacoby Ellsbury contract was a poor one that was already not working out that just got worse. Kinda interesting how the Yankees’ big money free agent signing is not as good as their home-grown talents.

If there is one bright spot to the Ellsbury contract, it was the changing of the narrative. Maybe the Yankees are not better off buying their team. Ellsbury is a really good example of a really bad contract. For that, let’s move on.