Three Worst New York Yankees Contracts
1. Jacoby Ellsbury | 7-Years, $153M
Entering the 2014 MLB season, the New York Yankees faced a difficult decision. Either they re-sign their homegrown player Robinson Cano to a monster extension or they sign a scrappy centerfielder fresh off of a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in Jacoby Ellsbury.
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The Yankees, as we now know, opted to go with the latter, signing Ellsbury to a 7-year, $153M ($21.9 AAV) deal. Cano would end up with the Seattle Mariners for 10-years, $240 ($24 AAV).
Hindsight being 20-20, not only did the Yankees make the wrong decision, they topped it with arguably the worst contract in the history of baseball. Despite only being paid a little over $2M more AAV, Cano has…
- Played in 291 more games than Ellsbury in the same period,
- Has a batting average 27 points higher,
- Has an OBP 18 points higher,
- Has a wRC+ 27 points higher, and
- Has an fWAR 13.4 points higher than Jacoby Ellsbury.
What’s more, this season the New York Yankees are paying Ellsbury $26.1M to stay home. That’s about as much as it would have cost to pay these players:
- Jon Lester, CHC – $25.8M
- Paul Goldschmidt, STL – $26M
Now I know some of you may be wondering why Giancarlo Stanton isn’t on this list. In all honesty, I’d like to give Stanton another season. Given how he showed up in 2018, he deserves just that.
Hopefully, I’m not revising this to include him next season.