Between AJ Piersynski, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltilamaccia, the Boston Red Sox have been at the center of the MLB's offseason moves during these last 48 hours as they have changed their catching future and put their prosperity in center field in serious jeopardy. Jacoby Ellsbury has defected to the Yankees and the leagues most hated ball player is now a Red Sox.
It will be a while before we see any of these guys in action with their new teams but for now it is time to get to know an say goodbye to 3 great baseball players.
AJ Piersynski signs 1 year 3 million dollar deal with Red Sox
Once voted the MLB's most hated player, 36 year old catcher: AJ Piesrzynski inked a widely accepted 1 year 8 million dollar deal that brought him in to bridge the gap to Boston's catching future.
Pierzynski's durability will take the pressure off of concussion plagued backup David Ross and also give the Red Sox the opportunity to dump terrible defensive catcher Jarrod Saltilamaccia. He has a much better arm that Saltilmaccia and will likely hit in the mid to upper 200's in Boston.
It seems that the only problem with this deal is Piersynski's ego. He loves to be the big man on campus and frankly in Boston he will not get that opportunity. This is David Ortiz's team and Dustin Pedroia's game. There is no room for AJ Piersynski to try to become the moral leader of this team and instead what he must do is throw guys out and guide his pitchers to victory.
So long as AJ can understand his role, Boston will not regret this move.
Jacoby Ellsbury signs 7 year 153 million dollar deal with Yankees
Ellsbury is gone, snatched up by the cash crazed Yankees.
Let’s face it, this was a loose/loose scenario for Red Sox GM, Ben Cherrington. There was no way it was possible to scrounge up such a sum of money and yet by not doing so he lost one of the best center fielders in the league right now. This one will sting for Red Sox fans as via Jacoby's signing within the division we will be force to play him and his Yankees 19 times a season and barring any postseason sires, 133 times over the course of this contract.
However, durability will continue to be a main question for Ellsbury even in the Bronx where Sox fans will hope the Yankees will be made to look foolish when their new center fielder misses 70 games a season with any assortment of injuries. But regardless of that, when Ellsbury is healthy, he will flourish in New York and might likely use the optimal placement of the right field porch at Yankee Stadium to crush home runs on a constant basis.
Statistically speaking, Boston has no replacement for Ellsbury and while it would be easy to say they are at fault for letting Jacoby walk, this was a necessary non move by Ben Cherrington.
Jarrod Saltalmaccia signs 3 year 21 million dollar deal with Marlins
Game 3 of the World Series was a turning point in Jarrod Saltilamaccia's career. As he botched an easy throw to 3rd base thereby handing the win to the Cardinals, his time as a starter in Boston was done as backup David Ross got the start in each of the next 3 games.
Salty who played 4 seasons in Beantown was shaken by the benching and by the end of the series it seemed that the Sox were ready to cut ties with the man who had bridged them out of the Jason Varatek era. They made that final Tuesday afternoon when they signed Ranger free agent AJ Pierzynski thereby signaling that it was time for Salty to go.
Upon taking this hint it did not take Jarrod long to ink a pretty respectable 21 million 3 year contract with the Miami Marlins a team who are desperate for the very offence that Jarrod Saltilamaccia will so willfully provide.
As it all trickles down, the Sox might nearly say good riddance to their former backstop as they do not need offence from the catcher position they need defense and Saltilamaccia could not provide that. Much like the Ellsbury situation this is a very good non move by Ben Cherrington.
To read more about Saltilamaccia's tenure in Boston click here
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