July 9, 2010

Youkilis Is Frustrated With Ellsbury

Kevin Youkilis, on WEEI's The Big Show, Thursday afternoon:
Jacoby's coming back now [from five weeks at Athletes' Performance in Arizona], so hopefully he can cheer us on. I don't know what went on there. I think that was more his agent (Scott Boras) and the Red Sox, but it's very important. As a player, it doesn't matter if you're hurt or not. You should be out there cheering on your team. ... It's good that he's coming back. Hopefully he's out there cheering on the team, and hopefully he'll get healthy and help the team.
I am shocked that none of the papers have picked up on this.

We have next to no information about this situation, so I'm not going to waste any time trying to guess if the Red Sox are frustrated with Ellsbury, the depth of that frustration, Scott Boras's involvement, if they think Ellsbury should have been travelling with the team (since rest seems to be the best remedy for fractured ribs), which players might be annoyed at whatever has or has not been going on, trying to parse Terry Francona's various statements word-by-word, etc.

Here is a SoSH thread on LBJ that was begun on June 26; the discussion post-Yook's comments starts here.

5 comments:

Philip said...

Not really gonna comment on Youk's statement, because it seems to be driven by the frustration I assume the whole team is feeling with all these injuries. Without being privy to the discussions of the team and Ells' rehab, I'm not going to really judge either side.

What I got from reading that SOSH thread, however, is that Trautwein's Degree is an asshole.

laura k said...

As a player, it doesn't matter if you're hurt or not. You should be out there cheering on your team.

I'm sure if Ellsbury had been in the dugout high-fiving his teammates, we'd be in first place by now.

nick said...

Having just given up on reading the thread in disgust, I agree 100% with Philip.

mattymatty said...

L-girl - I think an injured player has two obligations. 1) show support for his team mates, and 2) get well. When those two are at odds as they may have been with Ellsbury then I would think (and hope) 2 would supersede 1. I guess where the argument comes in this case is did it?

laura k said...

I think an injured player has two obligations. 1) show support for his team mates, and 2) get well. When those two are at odds as they may have been with Ellsbury then I would think (and hope) 2 would supersede 1.

I think 1 exists only along the lines of other so-called unwritten rules. It's meaningless. Fans and teammates might like it when an injured player cheers them on, but there's no real obligation to do so, and the player shouldn't be subject to gossip and innuendo if he doesn't.

I have no idea what's going on with Ellsbury, but Youkilis should keep his mouth shut about it, IMO.