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Jacoby Ellsbury's recent resurgence—including his Red Sox record five steals in a game last night—may be a sign that he's really paying attention to his upcoming free agency. Over the last week, Ellsbury is hitting
.400, with four doubles, a triple and eight stolen bases. He's slugging .600 with an OPS of 1.071. Even without the power we saw in 2011, this is a player who can literally take over a game with his slashing hitting, speed, intimidation and guile. If he continues in this mode, he will significantly enhance two things: 1.) the chances of the Red Sox making the post-season and 2.) the chances of his getting a megadeal in free agency. Ellsbury's five steals broke his own and
Jerry Remy's record of four steals (the
RemDawg doing it in 1980). Jacoby also became the first player in MLB to steal five since some guy named
Carl Crawford—who pulled it off against the Red Sox in 2009.
