Red Sox fans went to sleep Thursday night, buzzing with the anticipation of what new signing AJ Piezynski could bring to Boston and their imaginations spinning thrilling images of the new catcher creaming opposing catchers at the Fenway home plate. When they woke up on Wednesday morning their mood was instantly soured by a deed committed by Jacoby Ellsbury that in Red Sox nation is all but a cardinal sin. He signed with the New York Yankees.
At exactly 8:39 eastern stranded time, Jacoby Ellsbury abandoned the team that had nurtured him to greatness and had given him 2 championship rings opting to instead march off to the one team they hated most. But can we blame him?
Ellsbury who played in 7 different seasons with Boston and started 715 regular season games soon became one of the league's premier outfielders using his incomparable speed to track down anything that soared into his expansive center field grass. Because of that calmness with his glove, Ellsbury committed just 8 errors during his tenure with Boston while compiling 1,708 putouts and 19 assists. But as we look back on these wonderful years, it was not even his defense that made Jacoby Ellsbury so great.
Using the same speed that gave him that center field ownership, Jacoby beat together 241 stolen bases and led the AL in that category 3 times the best of those seasons being one in which he compiled 70 thefts. There was never a doubt about Jacoby's on the field skill set but at the same time we always knew that the Beantown superstar was never fully contempt with his insane fame. He was isolated, and rarely talked to his teammates. He stayed out of the spotlight as best he could and if you look back on his days here, it was a rare occasion when someone was able to pry a useful quote out of any interactions with the media he had. To draw a comparison between Ellsbury's on the field and off the field goings on, one must simply look to the position he played.
Where Ellsbury played in center field was often over 300 feet away from home plate while still beyond speaking distance away from the stands which stood a whopping 488 feet away from home. He was never within 100 feet of second basemen Dustin Pedroia and never even had to call for fly balls. When guys saw him coming they got out of the way no questioned asked. He did not have to deal with reading signs from his coaches meaning no shifts, no intentionally dropped balls and no coach advised description as to when he must utilize his cannon arm. For a guy with a personality that necessitates isolation, center field is the perfect position and yet in the end it was that isolation that likely caused his discomfort with Boston and by extension moved him to NY.
So what now?
Jacoby is gone, taken away by the 3rd largest outfield contract in the history of baseball and so we now look to the guys in the wings and on the market asking one bold question. Who now fills the void and how to we cope with the fastest player in the league now playing against us 19 times a year? Unfortunately, that question really does not have much of an answer.
Instead we have Jackie Bradly Jr. After he was drafted by the Red Sox back in 2011, the now 23 year old prospect marched up the ranks and actually began the year ahead of Sox current top prospect Xander Boagerts. This kind of recognition was breed via a spectacular preseason put up by Bradley in which he hit .419 with 12 RBI's in 62 at bats. However, that success did not directly translate into regular season prosperity. He played just over a month of baseball to start the season and while his okay glove and Ellsbury like speed did help in him the field, Bradley's offence was abysmal as he knocked up just 3 hits and no RBI's through 31 April at bats which was good enough to hand him a monthly batting average of .097 as well as a demotion back to Pawtucket. In time, his offence did get better and by the end of the year and after finally fighting his way back to Boston in order to fill the void left by a late season Ellsbury hand injury Bradly did manage to hike his average up to a still horrendous .189.
I ask you this is that the guy you want replacing one of the best in the game?
Well according to a recent Sports Nation ESPN poll , the answer is yes, 85% of the nation believes that the Red Sox were right in letting Ellsbury go and in turn believe that Bradley will not be an achilles heel to this team that will hopefully make a good run at defending their crown as champions come next October.
But there is hope that the Sox will get some more veteran skill in outfield as they did last off-season. First and foremost we have free agent, Shin-Soo Choo who like Ellsbury uses speed to excel both defensively and offensively. He stole 20 bases in 2013 and commuted just 4 errors in 150 games played. Furthermore there is Matt Kemp who while he is currently under contract with the Dodgers, it seems to be true that the Dodgers want him out of town meaning that a small piece such as Ryan Dempster might be enough to bring the slugger to Boston.
153 million dollars is a lot of money and lets face it, we cannot blame Ben Cherrington for refusing to fork it over. But the Sox and their fans will miss Jacoby Ellsbury and so, the boos will rain down whether we want them to or not.
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