Yankees agree to sign Jacoby Ellsbury

[Villain]

Holy shit.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/12/yankees-agree-to-sign-jacoby-ellsbury.html

The Yankees have agreed to sign Jacoby Ellsbury, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com first reported that the two sides were closing in on a seven-year pact. It is believed the deal will top Carl Crawford's $142MM, seven-year deal with one estimate pegging the deal at about $150MM, according to Heyman.

The Yankees have been in simultaneous talks with Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Beltran, and many other top free agents, including their own Robinson Cano. Things have stalled somewhat with Cano, however, as the Yanks don't want to go far beyond $170MM over seven years and Cano's team looking for about $260MM. Heyman spoke with sources who didn't rule out the Yankees continuing their purusit of Choo or Beltran, but it would seem unlikely at this point.

ESPN's Jayson Stark reported on Monday that talks were moving faster than expected for the Scott Boras client. Boras is notorious for waiting out the market to find the right deal as he did with Prince Fielder (signed in late January) and Michael Bourn (February).

Ellsbury offers more pop than the typical center fielder, with a career slugging percentage of .439 and isolated power of .141. While his power is more of the doubles and triples variety, which is aided by his speed, he did hit 32 home runs in his stellar 2011 campaign. In that year, Ellsbury led all of baseball with 9.1 wins above replacement, finished second in the AL MVP voting, won a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove, and made the All-Star team.

The 30-year-old has also consistently posted above average UZR and DRS numbers in center field. While he has come back to earth somewhat since '11, he checked in with 5.8 wins above replacement in 2013, which is second only to Robinson Cano among free agents.

Yankees people envision Ellsbury in center with Brett Gardner moving to left.

 

[NAHSTE]

:domestic:

 

[Youk]

Good luck :tiptoe:

 

[Glenbino]

#bostonstrong

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Chrispy]

:suicide:

 

[Loco]

That 2011 season paid off for him I guess.

 

[Villain]

8:00pm: The deal includes an eighth-year option that could boost the total value to $169MM, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (on Twitter).

7:41pm: Ellsbury's deal is worth $153MM over seven years, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News (on Twitter). That tops Carl Crawford's deal by $12MM.

 

[Villain]

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2013/12/3/5172802/nl-west-trades

I would easily take Pagan for $32 million over the next three rather than Ellsbury for over $121 million more for the next seven. What a bargain. Ellsbury is a full Zito over Pagan. A FULL ZITO.

:lol2:

 

[ThomasTomasz]

You certainly get paid for past performance in any league, MLB is not an exception and Ellsbury did get paid. Very surprised he got more than a five year deal when you consider his injury history. Good luck to the Yankees to try and get him through unscathed.

As for the Yankees, they must really be betting on A-Rod coming off the payroll books, or they really don't care about the luxury tax anymore. They signed McCann, now have Ellsbury and have a $15 million-plus deal on the table to Kuroda for one year. Also, who knows what this means for Cano anymore, but I have to think they are moving on.

 

[Woy]

32 homers in 2011, 33 homers in his other six seasons. That's the funniest stat ever to me.

 

[Youk]

32 homers in 2011, 33 homers in his other six seasons. That's the funniest stat ever to me.

Brady Anderson doesn't see your humor.

 

[jms493]

Why teams sign 30 year old ball players to 5+ year contracts is beyond me.

 

[Youk]

Why teams sign 30 year old ball players to 5+ year contracts is beyond me.

There will always be one team that will go crazy with years in order to sign a player.

 

[Chrispy]

Can we please stop giving out these long contracts to already old players? :tables:

 

[PP]

Yankees never gonna learn. Ells is a great player but he isn't worth that kind of money. In fact I don't think ANY player is. Boras is one hell of an agent though that's for sure.

On a side tangent. These ridiculous contracts show how much money these owners make. Ticket prices/concessions will continue to rise with salaries. TV Contacts get larger and that cost gets pushed down into your Regional Sports Fee on your cable bill. Eventually the bubble has to burst .. right?

 

[Chrispy]

 

[Jayrock]

Dumb signing, but if you win just one WS, it makes it worth it IMO

 

[NAHSTE]

Dumb signing, but if you win just one WS, it makes it worth it IMO

:lol:

Ellsbury is the type of player to put a team over the top? Oh.

 

[Youk]

Dumb signing, but if you win just one WS, it makes it worth it IMO

Just one? So just one year makes this worth it?

 

[FedEx227]

:lol:

Ellsbury is the type of player to put a team over the top? Oh.

That's how baseball works, right?