New York Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has not played a single game in 2018. This trend will continue for the rest of this season, as the Yankees announced on Tuesday that Ellsbury underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum.
The typical recovery timetable for this procedure is about six months, which officially eliminates the 34-year-old from participating in baseball related activities this season.
Update on OF Jacoby Ellsbury: pic.twitter.com/Uw2JSOLfBR
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) August 7, 2018
Ellsbury is the most vilified Yankee by the fans due to his massive 7 year, $153M contract with a full no-trade clause which he signed before the 2014 season.
This is the worst move that Brian Cashman has ever made as GM. He overreacted to Robinson Cano signing with the Seattle Mariners, and this is a mistake that Cash is obviously still paying for. The contract is his fault, not Ellsbury’s. However, that’s not really how fans work.
Ellsbury has actually mostly been a solid player, overall. But as a Yankee, he is just not worth paying $21 million per year with no ability to trade him.
His slash line in 520 career games as a Yankee is .264/.330/.386. This is not a good stat line, but it is indicative that Ellsbury is a major league starter, even though he is paid like a superstar.
His best year was his first year with the Yanks, slashing .271/.328/.419 (109 wRC+), and his next best year was 2017, slashing .264/.348/.402 (101 wRC+).
His struggles in the intermittent years were mostly due to injuries, which is another reason that Ellsbury is disliked by Yankee fans.
Ellsbury has been out all year with an absurd string of injuries which simply sound made up. He had a foot injury for a while which extended to his back, then back to his hip. There may have been a quad issue mixed in somewhere. Many people genuinely think that the Yankees are making these injuries up just to keep Ellsbury away from the team.
Ellsbury would be a very useful piece to the Yankees as a fourth outfielder and a pinch-running option.
Ellsbury is a good defender, although his arm isn’t very strong. He is a capable hitter. He is also still very fast, even at 34.
He carried the Yankees in August last year. Having either Ellsbury or Clint Frazier around for periods during which Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge are on the disabled list would be genuinely helpful for the team.
Ellsbury is out for the year. The Yankees will probably be keeping Brett Gardner and Clint Frazier around next season, with Clint likely sliding into a starting role and Gardner as the fourth outfielder. At least a platoon situation will occur.
Featured Image via Flickr/Keith Allison
