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Ellsbury checks in

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

While the Red Sox and Twins try to hammer out a possible trade, involving Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana, Boston rookie sensation Jacoby Ellsbury is eagerly awaiting word on whether he’s staying or going.

“I’m been trying not to pay too much attention to it,” he said. “But it’s hard when all your friends, my parents and brothers are calling me because they want the inside scoop on everything. It’s tough just knowing that I have no control over where I play or anything like that.”

The Red Sox selected him in the first round (23rd overall) in the 2005 draft and because of that he has a certain comfort level within the organization that extends from the front office to his teammates, managers, coaches and fans.

“It’s something I hope gets done sooner rather than later and I’m sure Johan feels the same,” he said. “I’m just working out here in Oregon and staying in shape for anything possible. Where ever I go I’ll obviously give them my 100 percent.”

Do you want to stay in Boston?

“Definitely,” he answered. “Definitely. Coming through the minor-league system, winning the World Series and with the team we have coming back, I want to be a part of that next year. I would love to come back but unfortunately I don’t have any say, whatsoever, where I end up next year. Where ever I do I will definitely give 100 percent, but I would like to stay a Red Sox.”

The one thing that reportedly the Twins do not like about the highly talented outfielder is the fact he just switched agents and is now represented by Scott Boras. The super agent represents nine Red Sox players, including Ellsbury so the rookie felt it was in his best interest to make the change.

“Theo (Epstein) and Scott have a very good relationship and I was basically looking for the best representation available to me,” said Ellsbury. “Going with Scott allows me to be the best player that I can be. [Now] I can just go out there and play and not worry about too much.”

Boras actually contacted Ellsbury while he was in college, according the center fielder. At the time Ellsbury felt being represented by Boras was not the right fit for him, but after this past season things have changed dramatically.

“We’ve talked for a while,” said Ellsbury. “This wasn’t a rash decision. A lot of thought has gone into it.”

Ellsbury said he has talked with other Boras clients, including his teammates and decided it was finally a good fit.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 1:58 PM | Permalink

The overnight watch: The latest on Santana, and what's to come today

Waiting for Johan . . .

There was no overnight public movement on the Santana-to-the-Red Sox negotiations, which means we'll spend another day on Trade Watch. So the most interesting reading on the topic is now on the margins . . .

--- Curt Schilling, who's been positively expansive over the last few days, chimes in with a monster post that's part statistical analysis (a fairly sophisticated comparision of Melky Cabrera and Coco Crisp that leans heavily in Coco's favor) and part insight as to what it's like to be a player in the midst of these rumors. He also gets emotional on the topic of Jon Lester (''I’m biased, I know him. His character is off the charts.'') and waxes poetic about Jacoby Ellsbury. Great stuff.

-- Peter Abraham trades e-mails with Phil Hughes, who wants to stay in New York, on the LoHud Yankees Blog.

-- Chad Finn raises some legitimate concerns about Santana moving forward, both in Touching All The Bases and in his FoxSports column.

-- Seth Mnookin, like many in the Nation, is especially fond of the Red Sox youngsters and thinks the notion of trading them away for a superstar is just so . . . Yankee-like. But he also admits that if they get Santana, the Sox ''will have to be the pre-season favorite . . . through, say, 2010.''

-- ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick says that if the Alex Rodriguez saga taught us anything, it's that 'never' is a relative term with Hank Steinbrenner. Which is why there are those of us -- me included -- who find it incomprehensible that the Yankees would sit back and let arguably the best pitcher in baseball go to the Red Sox without putting up a fight and think New York isn't out of all this just yet.

-- But the Daily News' Bill Madden says the Yanks are, indeed, out, and that money is the reason. ''Once Andy Pettitte announced he was returning to the fold for $16 million,'' Madden wrote, ''it meant the Yankees had committed $408.4 million this winter to retain six players. The acquisition of Santana would have meant tacking on another $125 million to that figure, and [general manager Brian] Cashman, who never wanted to do the Santana deal in the first place, blanched at the prospect of adding another $20 million to a payroll that was already on the cusp of $200 million, again.'' Madden also says Cashman wants his legacy to be a homegrown rotation of young stars that he thinks, in the end, will be stronger than Boston's.

-- But the New York Post's Joel Sherman thinks Cashman and the Yankees are wrong, simply because they can't let Santana go to the Red Sox. He quotes an AL executive as saying, ''If the Yankees had gotten Santana, the race is real interesting. But if the Red Sox get him, the gap [between the Sox and Yanks] is really significant."

Stay tuned. Sean McAdam will be reporting from Nashville all day and Joe McDonald is scheduled to talk this afternoon to Jacoby Ellsbury. We'll report what he says immediately.

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:27 AM | Permalink