On Wednesday, the New York Yankees announced that they DFA’d Greg Bird and released Jacoby Ellsbury. Both moves came as a little bit of a surprise, but Yankee fans were grateful for both moves. However, did the team make the right decisions on the two players?
The Only Answer Is Yes
The New York Yankees absolutely made the right decision to get rid of Bird and Ellsbury. Both players never lived up to expectations with the Yankees, but a lot of that had to do with injuries. The two had trouble getting over injuries, and that affected their performance on the field.
Bird had a career .211 average with the Yankees and a .171 average in 2019 with very limited at-bats. His only real impact with the team was in the 2017 ALDS, when he hit a big home run off Andrew Miller to help keep the Yankees alive.
Ellsbury had a .264 career average with the New York Yankees, hitting 39 home runs and driving in 198 runs. He was a very streaky player, and only spent five of his 13 major league seasons completely healthy (including 2018 and 2019).
Both players have been hurt for a long time and have shown no signs of being healthy soon. Bird has a chance to remain with the Yankees if he isn’t claimed. In that case, he would be placed on the minor league roster and likely get a spring training invite if he is miraculously healthy.
But for Ellsbury, it looks that his career could be over. He hasn’t played in a game since the 2017 postseason, and is now 36 years old. Maybe he can find a way to revitalize his career in the minors or in independent ball, but otherwise he may never play another game.
And he may be okay with that. The Yankees still owe him a ton of money and will be economically set for the rest of his life.
It’s really too bad that both never worked out for the Yankees, but fans definitely wish them the best in whatever is next for the two.