If the Yankees can't find a trading partner for Jacoby Ellsbury, gulp, they'll have to deal Gardy

For most of the last year, the strategic Yankee Marshall Plan - as outlined by the Gammonitic Army Corps of Engineers and the IT IS HIGH Comment Commandos - has been to trade Jacoby Ellsbury like a plate of fetid clams, to whomever will take him for whatever they'll give. The goal is to get him gone, and the methodology goes like this:

We continually add money to the $63 million we'll pay Ellsbury over the next three years, until a trading partner signs on. Maybe we add $30 million - reducing the next team's salary commitment to $11 million per season. Maybe we add $40 million. Either way, we simply keep carting pallets of cash onto the loading dock until someone says, "Sold!" and gives us two Single A bobbleheads, who will convey the appearance of a deal. It's a horrible transaction, not only in concept but reality, because someone - maybe hated Seattle - will get a 34-year-old, hustling veteran with a comeback year inside him, while we'll pay the bulk of his salary through Trump's entire four years. Moreover, we might face Ellsbury in the playoffs. (Can you say, "Brian McCann" three times, like "Beetlejuice?")

Nevertheless, everybody knows the Empire must unclog its pipes for the rise of young players, and Ellsbury represents a juicy adult diaper flushed down the toilet. Aaron Hicks is our CF, Clint Frazier needs to play, Jake Cave deserves a chance,  Billy McKinney waits on the cusp, and in two years, Estevan Florial could be jiggling the handle. And that's not counting Bryce Harper and the mysterious "like" of October 16, which has bewitched the conspiratorial Yankiverse like a fresh sighting of Nessie.

But, but but... what if, no matter how we grease the trade with money, nobody will give squat for Ellsbury? What if, instead of sending prospects, they demand prospects for taking Ellsbury's rancid contract off our hands? It's quite possible that not even Cooperstown Cashman can avoid the fate of having to trade a serviceable player for a warm six-pack of Iron City.

Because here's the real rub: Ellsbury is a good player. Last year, returning from a concussion - an injury we wish on nobody - he put together a solid October to finish at .264, with 7 HR and 22 stolen bases. Frankly, I thought he deserved a few more at bats in the post-season - he was our hottest hitter going in - but I don't fault Girardi. The Yankees went farther than we expected, and Aaron Hicks was our CF. Them's the breaks.

Still, Ellsbury looks like the classic veteran with one good year left in his stool sample. Next season, I can imagine him hitting .300 with 15 HR and 35 SB. He'd play LF, of course, and offer solid defense. In other words, he's Brett Gardner.

Listen: Whenever I think about trading Gardy, I hate myself. He is a lifelong Yankee, a rare beast, he reps a link to our last World Series, and he's a pitch-taking grinder. Last season, at age 34 - (same as Ellsbury) - he hit .264 - (same as Ellsbury) - with 21 HR and 23 SB. (He came to bat 594 times, far more than Ellsbury's 356; so the power numbers are higher, but the SBs shows a distinct advantage to Ellsbury.) Statistically, they are H.P. Lovecraft doppelgangers: Gardy with more power, Ellsbury with more speed.

So... let's agree on one point: The Yankees cannot keep both Gardner and Ellsbury next year. One must go. And what if they cannot unload Ellsbury?

Well, Gardy is sitting on the last year of a $13 million contract. He's a valuable commodity. I can see many teams coveting his leadership, his personality, his defense and his ability to get on base. (But wait: Last year, his OBP was .350; Ellsbury's was .348. Careerwise, Gardy is .347, and Ellsbury .342. They are the same fucking player, people.) Yes, it's blaspheme to say, but if we trade Gardner, we might get a bullpen LOOGY or a few decent prospects, with Ellsbury moving to LF, where a comeback year could boost his trade value next winter. 

Yeah, I hate myself for saying this: But the best move the Yankees might make this winter would be to hold onto Ellsbury and trade his astral twin. The new manager could mean a new lease on life for Ellsbury. And we simply cannot go to opening day with the twosome circling each other like those distant stars that recently were seen to collide, exploding into the void. 

It's going to be a tough winter. The trades that are coming - they won't all be fun and games.