By Rich Mancuso/ Sports Editor
Jacoby Ellsbury? Greg Bird? We never got to know their capability in Yankees pinstripes. The Yankees made roster moves Wednesday evening and perhaps they should have been sent out of town sooner.
Of course it had to be Ellsbury and Bird to make room for the 40-man roster. This is all about business and baseball.
More importantly, this is another baseball decision with the upcoming Rule 5 Draft that will be held December 12 during the Winter Meetings in San Diego.
So back track a bit. You can hardly recall that one game either played an impact in a Yankees win. Then again, there are those ballplayers who can’t fight off injuries and that put Ellsbury and Bird in that category.
But in defense of Ellsbury and Bird, they could never show their potential as the two often injury prone Yankees of the past few years. It can be said, when healthy, Ellsbury and Bird were catalysts to the lineup but there was never much time to take notice.
Ellsbury, a .297 hitter with 65 home runs, 314 RBI over seven years with the Red Sox, spent most of this past season on the comeback trail from 2018 arthroscopic surgery to repair a left hip.
He was like that no-show that saw circumstances go beyond his control, never a catalyst in New York as he was for the Red Sox. The Yankees expected that much when they signed him to a seven-year $153 million contract.
Then, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, “Will be nice to see him finally on my side.” Girardi, though never had much time to see what Ellsbury could do on his side.
Neither did the GM or the manager get to see the potential. Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone, the past few years, were optimistic. But there were signs each and everyday with the constant and record number of Yankees on the injured list in 2019.
Ellsbury and Bird were not on that comeback trail.
And in New York, perhaps more than any other town, the comeback story is always good. But this comeback of two Yankees will go down as patience that ran its course.
Instead, the Yankees move on and for good reason. Ellsbury, even with Aaron Hicks slated to be sidelined to mid June or July of 2020, was not in a plan for an outfield spot.
Bird, was already out of the position. Even with his power as a left handed hitter at Yankee Stadium, Bird, was not replacing DJ LeMahieu the Yankees MVP of 2019.
Instead, the Yankees will reportedly eat the remaining $21 million of that Ellsbury contract that was not insured for next year. Bird, designated for assignment, has time to move on. Assuming he stays healthy, Bird is a threat in the lineup.
But like Ellsbury, Bird has to find a way to stay on the field. That issue does become bothersome to the opposing GM’s, and at the Winter Meetings in a few weeks the name of Greg Bird will surely come up.
Again, this columnist goes back a year after the Ellsbury contract. Yankees General partner Hank Steinbrenner, then with limited control, said to yours truly,“We are getting away from signing long term multi year contracts.”
He was referring to signing long term pitchers. The last one supposedly was granted to the recently retired CC Sabathia who had his share of injury issues with the knees in his last few years in the Bronx.
Steinbrenner, then, was resisting the temptation to say he was against seven -year deals to position players.
He was right, because, Jacoby Ellsbury goes down as one of the worst long term contracts granted by the Yankees and perhaps in baseball. And that also says a lot, as to why GM Brian Cashman has not been active about going after that needed front line starter and long term deal.
It may go down as one of the worst signing in New York baseball history, with the exception of the Mets’ signing of Bobby Bonilla who was signed before the 2000 season and opted for a 26-year buyout deal with million dollar paydays every July 1.
Ellsbury should be so fortunate. Point is, he showed no signs of a damaged or aging player when he was signed.
Hence, don’t expect the Yankees attitude to change during this free agent signing period. In other words, don’t expect Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strausburg pitching anytime soon in Yankees pinstripes.
And we never got to know the potential of 27-year old Greg Bird. He was a left handed hitter the Yankees needed. He had that natural ability to hit for power at Yankee Stadium.
But Greg Bird was in that unfortunate category of having the swing and trying to stay on the field.
“ We are being patient about his situation and hope Greg Bird can still be in our plan.” GM Brian Cashman said to this columnist back in July.
Yeah, patience does have a virtue in sports, it always does. But this was another situation of the Yankees put in a situation of retaining and getting around the issue of salary in this confusing era of business and baseball.
It was time to move on. Unfortunate we will never get to talk about the contributions of Jacoby Ellsbury and Greg Bird as Yankees.
Instead, the talk will be about how the Yankees had them protected on a roster that left them no choice.
The choice, business as baseball is. Jacoby Ellsbury and Greg Bird were no longer in that business plan for the New York Yankees.
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