Kevin Youkilis agrees to one year $12 million deal with New York Yankees – MLB News
Former Boston Red Sox’s third baseman Kevin Youkilis has agreed to a one year $12 million contract with the New York Yankees, reports sports.yahoo.com. Youkilis, who had been mulling Yankees’ offer for the last few days, agreed to terms with his former enemy
on Tuesday.
According to sources, Youkilis is expected to play third base for the Yankees until injured Alex Rodriguez returns to the Major League Baseball. The 34 year old hitter had a decent time on the mound for the Red Sox last season as he hit .235 with 19 home
runs and 60 RBI’s in 111 games.
After having an argument with Boston’s Manager Bobby Valentine, he spent most of the season with the Chicago White Sox. Yankees’ General Manager Brian Cashman is looking to add another bat to the batting lineup by the end of this week.
Veteran outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who hit .322 with 14 stolen bases for the Yankees last season, is expected to agree to terms with the Yankees anytime this week. Right after the season ended, the 39 year old Japanese born hitter expressed his desire to
sign a long term deal with the Yankees.
“In his days with the Red Sox, Youkilis did not have a great relationship when competing against the Yankees. Most notably, he and Joba Chamberlain went back and forth with Chamberlain often pitching inside or hitting Youkilis,” Andrew Marchand of ESPN.com
said in his post.
“Youkilis was not the Yankees' first choice at third. Going into the winter meetings, the Yankees' hoped to sign a platoon of Jeff Keppinger and Eric Chavez. Instead, Keppinger inked a three-year deal with the White Sox, while Chavez took $3 million, on
a 1-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks,” he added.
Although Ichiro had offers from several other MLB teams, he wanted to stay in New York as he loved to be a part of the club. Despite signing pitchers Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda and reaching an agreement with Youkilis, Yankees will stay
below the $189 payroll mark in 2013 to avoid luxury taxes, which could give them an additional $50 million profit.
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