New York Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury was held out of Tuesday’s lineup against the Toronto Blue Jays with an abdomen injury.
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Ellsbury Out vs. Blue Jays with Abdomen Injury
Tuesday, March 17
According to Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York, manager Joe Girardi said the injury occurred on Sunday before the Yankees’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Matthews provided more details on the specifics of the injury, which was originally deemed a quad injury: “And it turns out the ‘quad strain’ is actually a strain of the rectus abdominus, a muscle in the right side of Ellsbury’s lower abdomen, which Girardi insisted is no more serious than the originally reported injury.”
Girardi commented on his decision to leave Ellsbury out of tonight’s lineup:
[Ellsbury] came in today and said he felt it a little today when he coughed. He didn’t ask out of the lineup, but I said, ‘I’m not going to play you then.’ And I’m not going to play him tomorrow, then we’ll go from there. … The doctor wasn’t too concerned. And I’m not too concerned. …
We’ll give him a couple days and see where he’s at. If it takes a week, it takes a week. Right now, my plan is to give him two days. I told him, ‘I’m not going to play you today and I’m not going to play you tomorrow. Let’s see where you’re at Thursday.’
Ellsbury is coming off a somewhat disappointing 2014 campaign. Expectations were high for the Gold Glove outfielder after he hit .298/.355/.426 in his final season with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees signed Ellsbury to a seven-year deal worth $153 million.
Although his home runs and runs batted increased in 2014, his number of stolen bases declined, while his slugging percentage fell by seven points. And that’s to say nothing of his 27-point drop in both his batting average and on-base percentage.
That’s not to say Ellsbury was terrible last season, but he finished with the ninth-highest WAR (3.6) among center fielders, according to FanGraphs. Ideally, New York would get more out of a guy earning a tad over $21 million a year.
Injuries are always a bit of a concern for Ellsbury as well. He’s only played 150-plus games twice in his eight-year career and missed 232 games between his 2010 and 2012 seasons.
Nobody’s expecting the 31-year-old to repeat his incredible 2011 season, but he’ll certainly have to deliver in 2015 for the Yankees to be serious contenders in the American League East.
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