The end of Jacoby Ellsbury’s contract was never going to be pretty. Players whose game revolves around their legs usually don’t age all that well. Once the speed starts to go, their value sinks. There are always exceptions, but yeah, once a speed dude starts to lose speed, he can go from valuable to useless in a hurry. The final few seasons of Ellsbury’s contract were always going to be ugly.
In 2018, year five of Ellsbury’s seven-year contract, we never got to see the speed. We didn’t get to see the speed, we didn’t get to see the defense, and we didn’t get to see whether Ellsbury could still contribute on even a part-time basis.