"The New York Yankees reached agreement with free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira on an eight-year contract worth $180 million, three sources involved in the negotiations told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.
The contract will pay Teixeira an average of $22.5 million per season.
The Yankees had $88.5M coming off the books (included in that total - $23.4M on Jason Giambi, $16M on Bobby Abreu, and $11M to both Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano), and even with the Teixeira contract, they expect their payroll to fall below $200M.
New York has committed $423.5M in salary in the last month, with $161M going to LHP CC Sabathia ($23M over seven years) and $82.5 million to RHP A.J. Burnett ($18.5M over five) last week alone.
New York does have money left to add another starting pitcher, most likely veteran LH Andy Pettitte at $10M if he agrees to terms soon.
Teixeira's salary gives the Yankees, who are preparing to move into their pricey new ballpark in 2009, the four highest-paid players in Major League Baseball, including third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter and Sabathia.
Teixeira's agreement also comes just one day after the Yankees received a $26.9M luxury tax bill for 2008."
In case you're wondering, the Yankee payroll in 2008 was $209,081,577, according to Cot's Contracts. The Bronx Bombers are spending $64M next year on just their three new toys. The Pirates spent $48,689,783 in toto last season, their highest salary amount in five years.
Well, hey, the Pirates did sign Ramon Vazquez and Andy Phillips, and they are looking at Rocco Baldelli now that they're rid of that pricey Jason Davis contract. And geez, we can't help but wonder what'll happen when Scott Boras gets to redo Pedro's deal. Love him or hate him, he's the magic man.
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"
4 comments:
Ya know what? Texeira is a very good hitter, he gets added points for being a switch hitter and for being clutch down the stretch for the Angels in '08, and he is excellent defensively. Certainly he is an All Star player most years, but is he the greatest player of his generation at his position?
Nope. Not even close. And yet, he just got paid as though he is.
This contract may come back to bite the Yankees before it's all said and done. Granted, Texeira will have more lineup protection with this team than he will with almost any other batting order in baseball. But the new Yankee Stadium is not going to be the launching pad Texeira played in in Texas. And his overall career numbers show a .915 OPS---good but definitely not overwhelming.
Add in the massive money Noo Yawk threw at really-good-but-also-really-fragile righthander A J Burnett, and....
They'd better hope C C Sabathia doesn't eat himself out of the game anytime soon. These three signings are certainly "by the book", but none of them are foolproof. Texeira just got nearly A-Rod money when he is more like Tino Martinez. Very good, definitely. Great? No way.
Will, couldn't agree with ya more. All are very good ballplayers, but the length and amounts are out of line IMHO. They were fortunate to come out when the Yankees shed so much contract and missed the playoffs, so it was a perfect storm.
Think what Pujols would be worth if he were out instead of Tex. It's all timing and an agent that knows how to play the evil empire card.
Thanks for the Pud shout-out. He happened to be the only Christmas sidebar I could come up with, and he did end up being a pretty interesting character.
Merry Christmas, my friend!
And Merry Christmas to you, too, Ron. I'll try to hook up with you via telephone sometime over the coming week. God bless you and your family, and keep warm up 'ere in Picksburgh, anat! ;-)
PS Pujols is twice the hitter and ballplayer Texeira ever dreamed of being. If Texeira is "worth" $20 million per, Pujols is worth $40 million, at least.
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