Jacoby Ellsbury Leaves Red Sox for Yankees as Free Agent
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Jacoby Ellsbury is a New York Yankee.
That's the breaking news first reported by CBS's Jon Heyman Tuesday night..
Heyman and Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News have cofirmed that the deal is complete and Ellsbury will make $153 million over 7 years.
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agreement now in place, as @FeinsandNYDN said. $153M. updated ellsbury, yankees story: http://t.co/BTOZbSjieJ
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 4, 2013
Heyman had broken the news a little earlier Tuesday evening that the Yankees were close to signing Ellsbury from the rival Red Sox.
Ellsbury and Yankees appear to be closing in on 7-year deal. http://t.co/BTOZbSjieJ
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 4, 2013
Heyman's scoop was quickly confirmed by Feinsand
Can confirm @JonHeymanCBS report that Yankees and Jacoby Ellsbury are close to a long-term deal.
— Mark Feinsand (@FeinsandNYDN) December 4, 2013
It will be interesting to see how this affects the Yankees' pursuit of star second baseman Robinson Cano. The Yankees have balked at exceeding $170 million or 7-years in any offer to Cano, who is said to be looking for a 9-year, $52 million deal with a $28 million vesting option that would take the deal to $280 million over 10-years.
Perhaps the Yankees have given up on signing Cano, and thus heightened their efforts to lock down Ellsbury as a big free agent coup. Perhaps the Yankees believe they can afford Ellsbury AND Cano.
Either way, the thought of Ellsbury in pinstripes is enough to make Red Sox fans wicked angry. Especially if Ellsbury flourishes with the short right field porch at Yankee Stadium.
In other Red Sox news, the team agreed to a 1 year deal Tuesday with veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski worth just over $8 million. The 36-year-old Pierzynski (he turns 37 on December 30th) is expected to split time behind the plate with fellow veteran David Ross next season. Pierzynski hit 17 home runs and had 70 RBI while hitting .272 last season for the Texas Rangers.
Former Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalammacchia signed a 3 year, $21 million contract with the Miami Marlins Tuesday. The Red Sox never offered Salty a contract longer than 2 years, thus leading the switch-hitting 28-year-old to take his talents to South Beach.
The Sox replaced one backstop with another Tuesday without much fanfare. How they go about replacing their leadoff hitter and everyday center fielder, on the other hand, is sure to be a red hot storyline throughout this offseason.
