The Day My World Stood Still

This is how I felt when the news came in

Don’t worry, guys, at least we have A.J. Pierzynski…

I’m still in shock.

I mean how could he do this to us? Jacoby Ellsbury managed to break my baseball heart in a way I didn’t think anyone could after Johnny Damon. I thought Ellsbury enjoyed being the quiet, good-looking star that my mom loved among the bad beards? He was fast and agile on the field and the base paths, but I never thought I’d see him steal away to the Yankees without at least a strong pickoff attempt by the Red Sox.

In a day filled with many different trades and free agent deals, Ellsbury managed to steal the headlines and the dreams of the Fenway Faithful. Now I would not have given Ellsbury the $153 million deal that he got from the Yankees, but that is the only silver lining that I can see with the Yankees’ signing as a Red Sox fan. Ellsbury is fairly comparable to Damon statistically for the year before each left, with Bases Stolen being the exception. Here is the comparison:

Yr	Age	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
05	31	117	197	35	6	10	75	18	.316	.366	.439	.805
13	29	92	172	31	8	9	53	52	.298	.355	.426	.781

Ellsbury on the DL will be a common story for seasons to come and I hope he performs like Cano did while the Yankees still struggle to make the playoffs. There was very little need for the Yankees to sign Ellsbury because they already had Brett Gardner, but if they want to over spend for a player who is too often injured (fitting in perfectly with the current Yankees roster) then I am glad they got what they wanted.

I decided to examine Brett Gardner’s stats, who Ellsbury will replace in Center Field:

Yr	Age	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
13	29	81	147	33	10	8	52	24	.273	.344	.416	.759

The biggest difference between Gardner and Ellsbury? 19 million dollars next year. Ellsbury will make $21.85 million next year while Gardner will make $2.85 million.  That is a huge difference for similar production.

Surprisingly, Ellsbury’s contract is larger than Carl Crawford’s, leading me to be very skeptical of his production over the next couple of years. Here are Crawford’s stats (his deal was seven years and $142 million):

Yr	Age	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
10	28	110	184	30	13	19	90	47	.307	.356	.495	.851

Crawford’s numbers were much better than Ellsbury’s and I have to think that the New York Market will impact Jacoby’s stats more than Boston’s market impacted Crawford’s. Sure, Crawford was a mega deal, but he was grouped with Adrian Gonzales’ huge deal and was in a better place to handle the pressure. Ellsbury is heading to the Yankees, who are coming off their worst season in 20 years and are not getting much better or younger.

I must also add that this continues my streak of getting t-shirts of players that have then left the Red Sox: Jason Bay, Adrian Beltre, Carl Crawford, and now Jacoby. As a gift for the World Series win, I hadn't even gotten a chance to wear it.

But, after all that Ben Cherrington has done for us, I still have faith that we have a plan for the days after Ellsbury. Stay strong, Sox fans, better days are ahead.

In Ben we trust…

Quick Hits:

1)   Red Sox decided not to tender the contracts of Andrew Bailey and Ryan Kalish: I don’t like this. I feel like we could hang on to Kalish, especially because we just lost Ellsbury, and he could reach his potential if he could just get healthy (reminds me of another former Red Sox Outfielder). As for Bailey, I understand letting him go because of the salary, but I’m disgruntled because of the fact we traded Josh Reddick (who I liked… a lot) for Bailey two years ago. Bailey hasn’t done anything for us and Reddick has been decently consistent for the A’s.

2)  Red Sox sign Pierzynski for 1 year $8.25 million: I’m fairly indifferent on this addition. We got a pretty good 1 year rental for a decent deal, which opens up the doors for prospects Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart for the next couple of years, but I can’t help but worry about the impact of letting go of Saltalamacchia. I would rather have given Salty a 3-year deal while the two prospects mature and then trade him away when we feel they are ready to play. Salty has already established himself as a reliable contributor for the team and is well liked by his pitchers, which makes it difficult to let him go. Salty signed with the Marlins for 3 years and $21 million. I’m also a little sad to see his name on a different jersey.

3) Rays trade for Ryan Hanigan and Heath Bell: I actually really like this deal for the Rays. Hanigan isn’t anything special, but you get him for very little. You pick up Heath Bell as well, who can become your closer and you give up a pitching prospect (the Rays have plenty) and a player to be named later. The Diamondbacks made out well, too. They gave up the $5.5 million attached to Heath Bell because of his contract along with a decent pitching prospect for a better pitching prospect and a key player/prospect that will be determined later.