There was a time, not all that long ago, when Joe Girardi kept getting asked how he could afford to keep Jacoby Ellsbury in the New York Yankees lineup. There was a time, not long after that, when Ellsbury was sitting more than he was playing.
If you want to understand how far Ellsbury has come in the past couple of months, all you need to know is this: Sunday, everybody wanted to know why he wasn't in the Yankees lineup.
Just a day off, Girardi explained to reporters.
"I don't want to wear him down physically where his bat and his legs are not alive," the Yankees manager said, per MLB.