Jacoby Ellsbury Benched For Yankees' One-Game Playoff
BOSTON (CBS) -- Red Sox fans don't have much to celebrate this October, after the team finished in last place yet again. But they do have this: Schadenfreude.
Though it may pain Red Sox fans to see the Pinstripes play in Tuesday night's wild-card playoff game, they will delight at the fact that Jacoby Ellsbury will not be taking part of the action. That's because Yankees manager Joe Girardi did not include Ellsbury in the starting lineup, despite the center fielder being perfectly healthy.
Ellsbury is in just the second season of a seven-year, $153 million contact with the Yankees, and he's making $21.1 million this season.
That's quite a chunk of change for the Yankees to dedicate to a spectator in a win-or-go-home one-game playoff, but Girardi couldn't justify putting Ellsbury in the lineup, given his performance.
The 32-year-old Ellsbury batted .257 this season with a .663 OPS. Both were the worst numbers in any full season of his career.
Among AL center fielders with at least 500 plate appearances, Ellsbury ranks ninth out of 10th in batting average, seventh in on-base percentage and dead last in OPS. He batted just .202 in the month of September. Even his stolen base percentage slumped, as he successfully stole just 21 of 30 attempts this year. That was his lowest total for steals in any full season of his career, and it was the most times he's been caught stealing since 2011, when he went 39-for-54 in stolen-base attempts.
Ellsbury actually posted some fair numbers this season when facing Houston's Tuesday night starter, Dallas Keuchel. Ellsbury went 2-for-7 with a walk and a strikeout vs. Keuchel. Alas, those meetings took place back in June and August, and so they don't do much to help Ellsbury in October.
Making matters worse for Ellsbury is that the man taking his place in center field, Brett Gardner, isn't even playing well. Ellsbury has just been that bad. (Right-handed hitter Chris Young and switch-hitter Carlos Beltran will man the other outfield spots.)
So, again, the Red Sox are not playing this October, so there's only so much fun a fan base can have. But Red Sox fans will at least get a chuckle if they decide to tune in to Tuesday night's game in the Bronx and see the $153 million man riding the pine.