Buried in Nick Cafardo’s notes column from yesterday is this small nugget: “Prediction: Jacoby Ellsbury will be dealt in the offseason.” Which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because Mike Cameron is not going to live forever and the Sox need someone to play in the outfield, but there you are.
He could simply be guessing, but seeing the prediction just laid out like that with little explanation around it makes me think that Cafardo is passing along something he heard from team management. I wonder if it’s the same team sources that seem to be telling all the Boston writers to push the “Ellsbury is soft line.” Because we’ve seen a bit of that recently as well.
The Sox used to have a reputation for burying a guy in the media and then shipping him out. They don’t seem to do that much anymore because they’re all respectable and professional now and everything, but one wonders if this isn’t happening with Ellsbury.