Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner: The Yankees’ $205 million platoon?

6:27 PM ET

NEW YORK — This was certainly not the plan when the Yankees decided to give Jacoby Ellsbury a seven-year contract worth $153 million and to sign Brett Gardner for four years and $52 million before the 2014 season, but it certainly appears to be the plan now: When a left-hander is throwing for the other team, one of them gets a seat on the bench.

Obviously, when the Yankees signed off on those deals, it was with the intention that one (Ellsbury) would be the everyday center fielder, and the other (Gardner) would be the everyday left fielder. Now, it seems as if they are every-other-day players.

For Friday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays and their left-handed starter, Matt Moore, Joe Girardi determined that it would be Ellsbury’s night on the bench, despite a three-hit game on Thursday night — one of which was off a left-hander, Rich Hill — and Gardner’s turn to play, despite Gardner not starting the previous two games with a stiff neck.

It wasn’t the plan when they signed their massive contracts, but Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner have in …

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