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Yankees release Jacoby Ellsbury and designate Greg Bird for assignment

Finally, Jacoby Ellsbury’s tenure with the Yankees is officially over. He will likely go down as the worst free-agent signing in franchise history. The 36-year-old was set to enter the final year of his seven-year $153M contract in 2020 and earn $26M. The Yankees will swallow the remaining money owed to him and cut ties with him in order to open up a spot on the 40-man roster.

We knew heading into the day that some roster moves were coming with the 8 pm deadline looming for teams to add players to the 40-man roster that they wanted to protect from being eligible for next month’s Rule 5 draft.