We all know the Yankees have refused to sign the best player on the free agent market because they have learned their lesson about long term contracts. The Yankees have now applied that time worn wisdom by signing a player on the wrong side of 30 with a long injury history, and who is at best a mid-, not top-, level major leaguer, to a seven year contract. Let's not forget that he's also a legs guy whose own team did not even try to resign him.
The Yankees have learned that when you sign older, injury prone, but proven players—players like Nick Johnson, Kevin Youkilledus, and Travis Hafner—they always provide above average major league production for a healthy part of the season. Granted, their healthy part of the season does not extend past April, but that's besides the point.
With this signing, the Yankees are out of the Beltran sweepstakes. Beltran has his own health issues (knees), but has stayed in the line-up and is a very productive hitter. The Yankees were reluctant to give Beltran a third year, and have instead opted to do the responsible thing and sign an injury prone Ellsbury for seven years.
If this reminds you of letting a productive Ibanez go in favor of an always injured Hafner, it should. The better option was easily within reach and the Yankees chose the worse one. Why? Because Brian Cashman is not a very good GM. He's just not.
He knows how to close deals, but with Yankee money that's not exactly hard to do and he consistently makes bad personnel decisions while speaking out of turn publicly about far better players who are both more productive and durable. Let's not forget he's been in full charge of baseball operations for some time and our minor league system hasn't produced any high impact players during that time, except maybe an 8th inning reliever. Great.
7 comments:
Ellsbury is likely going to be a pretty good CF and leadoff hitter for several years. Not worth $153MM, but a solid complementary player that is great to have on a contending team. The problem is the Yankees still aren't a contending team. Unless they are willing to scrap their budget, give Cano a huge contract, and also sign some starting pitching, they are another 85-win team.
If they scrap their budget, then they have to go big. Sign Kuroda, Cano, Tanaka, Shin Soo Choo, Granderson, Garza, Beltran, and then really get the spending started: Give A-Rod an extension.
He's a good leadoff hitter/outfielder if he stays healthy, something he's failed to do in his twenties, and now we're asking him to do it in his thirties. His leadoff hitting and outfielding is also only valuable as long as he remains fast, and he's on the wrong side of 30 for that. Let the groin, calf, and hamstring injuries begin!
Do you mean Travis Hafner?
It depends. How much lead is in this paint?
For much of the season, the Yankees got equal production from Travis Hafner and Trevor Hoffman. And I have never seen them together in the same room.
No one will say that the Yankees got a bargain on Ellsbury. We'll now see if the Yankees actually have a plan or are making it up as they go along. Signing Ellsbury to a huge contract and then failing to fill the remaining holes in the lineup and rotation would be a clear sign that they are winging it.
I absolutely agree with Roberto. It is unbelievable to sign Ellsbury on a 7 year contract. Have they been paying attention? He is not that great of a player and has missed more playing time than I care for. This is not the kind of Yankees team I was hoping for.
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