November 21, 2019
Jacoby Ellsbury had a decent first season in New York (2014), but that was it. His last major league game was in September 2017.
The Yankees paid him $21,142,857 in 2018 for doing nothing.
The Yankees paid him $21,142,857 in 2019 for doing nothing.
The Yankees will pay him roughly $26,000,000 in 2020 just to get rid of him.
(Sure beats workin' at the gas station . . . ding ding.)
Sorry, Sox!
I should give Bill Madden of the Daily News some credit, though, admittedly, it did not exactly require a Mensa IQ to know signing Ellsbury for $152 million would not ultimately work out in the MFY's favour.
Back in 2013, Madden wrote:
Jacoby Ellsbury's Yankees Deal Won't Look Good In A Few SeasonsEllsbury played four seasons with the MFY ... and was off for the final three years.
How long until the Yankees are regretting giving Jacoby Ellsbury a 7-year contract? ...
[A]s history has proven, contracts of more than six years for players 30 or older have proven time and again to be disasters ...
I'm just not sure what the Yankees are trying to prove here. Now they've agreed with Ellsbury on a $21.8 million per year deal that will almost certainly be another financial disaster three or four years down the road, while giving them another "legs" player in the outfield when what they really needed there was a power bat. ...
Whatever, this reckless, show-their-financial-might signing by the Yankees makes no sense, other than being another example of the Yankees' intention of buying their way out of a situation in which their player development department has been bankrupt for years.
This was not a gamble that turned bad. It was a terrible move. Ellsbury was not going to be great 4 years out never mind 7 years out. He was an excellent complementary player rather than a “highest paid player”. Certainly he turned out far worse than could have been expected. But it was a foolish signing even if he had okayed up to reasonable expectations
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