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MLB Rumors: Jacoby Ellsbury signs 7 year, $153 million deal with Yankees

CBS Sports Jon Heyman reports the Yankees have signed outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven year deal for $153 million. Here is the fantasy impact.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY

Tuesday brought us one of the busiest day of trades and free agent signings in quite some time, but none are bigger than what CBS Sports Jon Heyman is reporting:

Wow….seven year deal is huge. And there is more:

Some are reporting that the Yankees are in on both Ellsbury and Shin-Soo Choo, both of whom are Scott Boras clients, so signing both would mean good bye to second baseman Robinson Cano. I doubt they sign both, but signing Ellsbury would be a solid move for the Yankees who have plenty of holes to fill in their lineup this offseason.

They already signed catcher Brian McCann to a five year deal, and now this possible seven year deal for Ellsbury would certainly be a very good start to filling the holes in their lineup.

Here is what their lineup will look like after this deal, which looks pretty close:

LF Brett Gardner

CF Jacoby Ellsbury

RF Ichiro Suzuki/Vernon Well

3B ??

SS Derek Jeter/Brandan Ryan

2B ??

1B Mark Teixeira

C Brian McCann

DH Alfonso Soriano

On paper, it is a pretty good lineup. Should they go out and sign Robinson Cano on top of McCann and Ellsbury, I imagine they would just throw the Plan $189 out the window, which I think they HAVE to do after their disappointing 2013 season, which saw them miss the playoffs for the first time in quite awhile. On top of that, fans stopped coming to the ballpark, so dropping the $189 million payroll limit would indicate they are serious about getting back to being the old Yankees, that spends more than any other team in an effort to win and get to the World Series.

Update: Here is the latest on the Ellsbury contract:

For fantasy purposes, I don't think this changes Ellsbury's value one bit. Actually, he might hit a few more home runs in Yankee Stadium, or Coors Field East. But, as it is, I am not a big fan of Ellsbury, but he is valuable in the batting average, runs and stolen base categories.