ARLINGTON, Texas — Let’s start this momentous transaction with a hot take. Worst contracts in Yankees history:
1. Kei Igawa
2. Carl Pavano
3. Jacoby Ellsbury
At least Ellsbury actually provided value during his first four seasons in pinstripes before turning into a human punch line. The two pitchers, signed two years apart in the 2000s, provided only belly laughs.
No bronze medal, however, for the Yankees and Ellsbury, who officially divorced Wednesday when the Yankees, lacking insurance on the seventh and final year of Ellsbury’s $153 million deal, therefore decided it made no sense to keep him.