The New York Yankees had a busy weekend, acquiring NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Starlin Castro, two prospects, and financial freedom. With the winter meetings beginning on Monday, it's fair to ask just what's next for the Yankees?
Per a few national reporters, the answer could be trading Jacoby Ellsbury. Take a gander:
Yankees are believed willing to pay half or so of the 68M to go on ellsbury in a potential trade. Bigger hurdle: getting him to waive full no-trade clause (he wants to stay)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2017
The Yankees deeming Ellsbury expandable makes sense. New York has Stanton, Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner, and Aaron Hicks to slot into the outfield and DH positions. Add in their considerable depth in the upper minors (Clint Frazier, Jake Cave, and Billy McKinney are all on the 40-man roster and Triple-A-bound), in addition to emergency options like Tyler Wade and Tyler Austin, and the Yankees are well-positioned to withstand an injury with or without Ellsbury.
Besides, there's financial incentive to move Ellsbury, whose contract calls for $21 million annually over the next three seasons, as well as a $5 million buyout on his 2021 club option -- or $68 million overall. Over the weekend, Mike Axisa laid out how the Yankees can avoid the luxury tax -- in part by eating money to send Ellsbury elsewhere.
Finding a taker for Ellsbury at a reduced rate could be doable. While his career 95 OPS+ in pinstripes obscures his offensive struggles in 2015-16, he's been a competent player overall thanks to his glove and wheels. If the Yankees do eat half the $68 million, some team could land a starting-caliber outfielder for about $11 million per season. The flip side is the Yankees could coerce a team to take on more of Ellsbury's deal by including a talented youngster or two, as Ken Rosenthal laid out here:
One way for #Yankees to trade Ellsbury, assuming he will waive no-trade: Attach quality prospects. New team effectively would “buy” the prospects to take on negotiated percentage of Ellsbury’s contract: $21.1M through ‘20, plus $5M buyout for ‘21.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 11, 2017
Doing so would give the Yankees more breathing room with regards to the luxury tax, and therefore greater flexibility to pursue any and all free agents they deem worth their time and money. It's not known what level of prospect the Yankees would have to sacrifice in order to make this scenario a reality. It's also unclear if Ellsbury would waive his no-trade clause to go just anywhere, further complicating matters from the Yankees' perspective.
This much seems clear, however: the Yankees have an outfield surplus, and there's good reason to think Ellsbury will be the odd man out.
