ARLINGTON, Texas — Let’s start this momentous transaction with a hot take. Worst contracts in Yankees history:
1. Kei Igawa
2. Carl Pavano
3. Jacoby Ellsbury
At least Ellsbury actually provided value during his first four seasons in pinstripes before turning into a human punch line. The two pitchers, signed two years apart in the 2000s, provided only belly laughs.
No bronze medal, however, for the Yankees and Ellsbury, who officially divorced Wednesday when the Yankees, lacking insurance on the seventh and final year of Ellsbury’s $153 million deal, therefore decided it made no sense to keep him. The Yankees ate $26 million (a $21 million salary for 2020 and a $5 million buyout on a $21 million team option for 2021) in order to free up space on their 40-man roster, and it would be a big surprise for the injury-prone Ellsbury, who hasn’t played since the 2017 American League Championship Series, to ever play in the majors again.
No, Ellsbury’s legacy should be a lesson the Yankees already have deployed yet haven’t come close to perfecting: Beware of shiny objects without examining them closely.
The Yankees signed Ellsbury, it sure appeared, in December 2013 because he wasn’t Robinson Cano, whom they didn’t want to give $200 million-plus, and because he was a member of the Red Sox, who had just won their third World Series title in 10 years with Ellsbury’s considerable help. Yet any reasonable assessment at the time wondered about the then-30-year-old’s injury history and personality fit, not to mention his similarity to the more affordable and personable Brett Gardner.
Well, Gardner, a lifelong Yankee and free agent for the first time, has some leverage on the Yankees because of their void in center field, one created by ailments to Ellsbury as well as Aaron Hicks (recovering from Tommy John surgery). Though the quiet, amicable Ellsbury wasn’t loathed in the Yankees’ clubhouse, nor was he beloved, he never gave off the vibe that he burned to win. For nine figures, you ideally want some positive contribution to your clubhouse culture.
In short, when the media gets it right about you being wrong, as occurred here, you screwed up big time.
Only once in the subsequent five offseasons have the Yankees invested more than $153 million in a player, and that came in the December 2017 trade with the Marlins, run by Ellsbury’s 2014 teammate Derek Jeter, for Giancarlo Stanton. That $265 million expenditure also looks like a big mistake, the Yankees again seeming to ignore Stanton’s sizable number of injured-list stays. Not coincidentally, the Yankees can absorb the Stanton contract somewhat because they’ve excelled at finding bargains among position players such as current free agent Didi Gregorius, Hicks, Mike Tauchman, Gio Urshela and Luke Voit as well as developing their own guys like Miguel Andujar, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres (acquired while in the minors) while shrugging off fan and media pressure to sign Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and others.
Now we arrive at this winter, as the Yankees eye top free-agent starting pitchers such as Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg and, one tier down, Zack Wheeler. These guys naturally all carry a level of risk. Yet I’d contend that any of them would represent better risks than did Ellsbury or Stanton because their skills are harder to replicate.
The Ellsbury signing continued the Yankees’ ill-fated 2013-14 offseason spending spree that also handsomely rewarded Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Masahiro Tanaka. Only Tanaka grades an A. Ellsbury, given the Yankees’ investment, scores the worst, a D, as he wound up being far more of an albatross than an asset. If he helps the Yankees avoid the next shiny object with blemishes, though? Maybe memories of the Ellsbury Era will turn a little less painful.