MLBPA has reportedly filed a grievance against the New York Yankees on behalf of Jacoby Ellsbury urging the organization to pay him his $26M.
Earlier today, Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported that the player’s union recently filed a grievance against the New York Yankees in an effort to recover the remaining $26M of outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury‘s contract. According to Blum, if a settlement isn’t reached, the grievance will be heard by arbitrator Mark Irvings.
Earlier this offseason, it was reported that the Yankees converted Ellsbury’s 7-year, $153M deal into a non-guaranteed deal before releasing him outright without paying him the $21.1M owed to him for the 2020 MLB season plus a $5M buyout.
The team believed that Ellsbury had violated his deal by receiving unauthorized treatment by Dr. Viktor Bouquette of Progressive Medical Center in Atlanta. Ellsbury has retorted by claiming that any unauthorized treatment he has received was for a non-baseball-related injury.
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Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke to Dr. Bouquette late last month regarding the Yankees’ claim. In response, Dr. Bouquette confirmed that he has seen Ellsbury, but did not disclose any details regarding treatment because the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevented him from doing so.
One can perceive Ellsbury’s willingness to see Dr. Bouquette, who is said to focus more on “reducing inflammation in patients by identifying and treating its underlying causes,” as a player’s desperation to get on the field. Though the Yankees might see that as a positive thing, they still believe that he violated his contract by doing so without their authorization.
Ironically, the last thing New York Yankees fans will remember about Jacoby Ellsbury as a player was an impressive end to the 2017 season, when in 27 games he slashed .337 / .436 / .477, stealing six bags along the way.
Ellsbury was a promising player for a time, but his time with the Yankees will be remembered at a time of struggle. In six years with the team, of a potential 972 games he could have played in, Ellsbury only appeared in 520, an average of 87 games per season.