Kevin Youkilis will replace Alex Rodriguez at third base – MLB New York Yankees News
The New York Yankees and Kevin Youkilis have agreed to a one year $12 million deal, reports espn.go.com. For the last few days, Youkilis had been weighing Yankees’ offer against offers from other Major League Baseball teams.
Although the Yankees have not the official announcement, a reliable Major League Baseball source has confirmed the news. Former Boston Red Sox third baseman Youkilis was unable to live up to the expectations last season as he hit just .235 with 19 home runs
and 60 RBI’s in 122 games.
He also had an argument with Red Sox’s Manager Bobby Valentine and ended up spending most of the season with the Chicago White Sox. It will be interesting to see if Youkilis can find his lost form in the next season to help the Yankees win the World Series
title.
“Youk has always been a tough out,” Rodriguez said about Youkilis in an interview. “He’s a tough player, he’s a guy that’s a winning player. Whatever the franchise wants to do, I think that would be a good move for us.”
“Everything stays on the field. I’ve gotten a chance to talk to him and he’s a nice guy. I’ve had a chance to meet him at the All-Star Game, and he always seemed cool in talking with everybody There’s some guys that, the way they play the game,” Robinson
Cano said.
Yankees are also showing some serious interesting in re-signing veteran outfielder Ichiro Suzuki for the next season. Ichiro, who moved to New York from Seattle Mariners as part of a mid season trade, made a strong impression on the skipper Joe Girardi as
he hit .322 with 14 stolen bases in 67 games. Showing great mental strength and pressure handling abilities, the outfielder helped the Yankees emerge victorious in several important encounters.
Coming back to Youkilis, the 33 year old is expected to play third base since Yankees’ everyday third baseman Alex Rodriguez is going to miss the half the next season recovering from a hip injury. The path to signing a contract with the Yankees was cleared
for Youkilis when Cleveland Indians signed Mark Reynolds to one year contract.
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