FORT MYERS — As Francisco Cervelli was being peppered with questions about catching Masahiro Tanaka’s second bullpen session as a Yankee, he made an obvious observation:
“He’s not the only guy who makes $100 million here.”
And while much of the attention of the past month has been focused on the Japanese right-hander, the Yankees handed out another deal to Jacoby Ellsbury that is strikingly similar to the one Tanaka received.
Ellsbury’s seven-year, $153 million price tag surprised some, but his worth wasn’t questioned Sunday by the people that figure to miss him most.
“He’s unique,” Mike Carp said as the World Series champion Red Sox look to repeat. “It’s hard to describe how much he meant to us. He’s just an electric game-starter who wreaks havoc on the bases and saves runs in the outfield. It’s tough to match that and it’s going to hurt to see him in pinstripes. How do you contain a guy like that?”
So far in Ellsbury’s career, that has been left to injuries. He was limited to 74 games in 2012 and 18 in 2010, but managed to stay relatively healthy the rest of his career.
The Red Sox hope to turn to Jackie Bradley, Jr. to replace Ellsbury in center, although manager John Farrell understands the risks involved in trusting an inexperienced player to such an important spot.
“We’re searching for an everyday leadoff guy, so we already miss Jacoby Ellsbury,” Farrell said. “We’re missing a top-flight leadoff hitter.”
Ellsbury will provide that in The Bronx as one of the additions that caught the attention of the Red Sox.
“They hung around last year, even with all the injuries they had,” Mike Napoli said. “Now they have [Brian] McCann in that park and [Carlos] Beltran with [Ellsbury]. And with [Mark] Teixeira back, it’s going to be like a whole different team.”
But seeing Ellsbury with the Yankees will sting the most.
“He was one of us,” Napoli said. “You hate to see guys like that leave, but we know how much better he’s going to make them and how much harder it will make it for us to get back to where we want to go.”
As Dustin Pedroia said, the Red Sox enter 2014 with a “bull’s-eye” on their backs and although he’s looking forward to the challenge of trying to defend a title, understands the challenge of doing it without his former teammate.
“He was a huge part of the season we had,” said Pedroia, fully healed from offseason left thumb surgery. “Great player with speed and power. He’s fast, can hit a home run and steal a base. There’s nothing on the field he can’t do.”
Farrell, who managed against Ellsbury in 2012 when he managed in Toronto, knows what he’s in store for.
“We’ll see him a lot,” Farrell said. “He’s not the first center fielder that has migrated south. Good players are going to have a opportunity and for him, clearly with the opportunity in New York, the market took him away from us.”
Pedroia called winning consecutive titles “the toughest thing to do in sports” and it’s unclear how Ryan Dempster’s announcement Sunday that he wasn’t going to pitch this year will affect that pursuit.
Dempster went 8-9 with a 4.57 ERA after signing a two-year deal with the Red Sox prior to last season. He was bumped from the rotation in September and pitched three innings out of the bullpen during the team’s World Series run. His role on this year’s team was undetermined and he decided that partially because of the neck woes that hampered him much of 2013, he would sit out the season with no set plan of returning.
His decision will save Boston $13.25 million, as general manager Ben Cherington said there was no settlement. Cherington declined to discuss how the newfound money would impact the roster, but the Red Sox would figure to want Stephen Drew back if the free-agent shortstop came at the right price.
Dempster’s most famous moment — at least in New York — came when he drilled Alex Rodriguez at Fenway Park last August 19.
The right-hander repeatedly appeared to throw at the recently reinstated Rodriguez before hitting him on the elbow, causing Joe Girardi to storm out of the dugout. Rodriguez sparked a comeback win with a long home run in the sixth and Dempster received a five-game suspension.