The Yankees decided to jump in and sign Mark Teixeira as a way to keep him away from the Red Sox and to improve their team in 2009.
However, the Yankees today gave Teixeira an eight-year contract worth $180 million, two sources confirmed, because they looked at next offseason and realized they would be needing a player just like him except none would be available.
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In a move that again demonstrated their financial superiority, the Yankees stepped in late in the negotiating process to outdo the Nationals and — most important — Boston to secure the switch-hitting first baseman.
They have now guaranteed $423 million this offseason to land Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.
Teixeira instantly becomes the Yankees’ No. 3 hitter, behind Derek Jeter and in front of Alex Rodriguez. It addresses both offensive and defensive issues that were pressing for the Yankees in the upcoming season.
But the Yankees were just as worried about 2010. Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Xavier Nady are all entering the walk year of their contracts.
So the Yankees were looking at replacing as many as many as three lineup slots. However, next offseason the free-agent market is much leaner than this one, with only another Scott Boras client, Matt Holiday, as a standout performer near his prime.
Though the Yankees feel they have pitching prospects ready to break through, they do not believe the same about their positional base on their farm.
Thus, they worried that if they did not act on Teixeira now they would regret it a year from now.
The Yankees will try to trade at least one player from the group of Damon, Matsui, Nady and Nick Swisher to unclog a logjam at corner outfield/DH/first base, also trying to reduce some payroll.
The player the Yankees would most like to move is Matsui, who is due $13 million a year. The Angels, after failing to land Teixeira, are among the teams looking for a productive bat and have room at DH. The Rangers, A’s and Rays also could fall into that category.
Teixeira’s agreement — the Yankees’ third big-money signing this month — is subject to a physical.
When complete, the Yankees would have the four highest paid players in baseball in 2009: Rodriguez, Jeter, Sabathia and Teixeira.
Sabathia was given a seven-year contract for $161 million and A.J. Burnett got a five-year deal for $82.5 million earlier this month. And today the Yankees were assessed a $26.9 million luxury tax based on last year’s payroll.
Yesterday, Brian Cashman said, “We don’t have any offers out there” for any other free agents, including Teixeira and Manny Ramirez.
Unless this deal was put together today, that could not have been true.
The GM offered the statement while denying a published report in the Dominican Republic that said the Yankees had offered Ramirez a three-year contract worth $75 million.
The Angels announced on Sunday they had removed themselves from the Teixeira sweepstakes, leaving the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals and Orioles as the teams with a shot at signing the switch-hitter.
Cashman said he didn’t deem another bat as a necessity after committing $243.5 million in long-term contracts to Sabathia and Burnett.
But he got a 28-year-old player who ranks in the top five for home runs in his first five seasons (203). Last season, he hit .308 with 33 home runs and 121 RBIs for the Braves and Angels.
“Last year I think we lost a lot of runs because of injuries to [Hideki] Matsui and [Jorge] Posada and the underperformance of Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera,” Cashman said. “A healthy Matsui and Posada and a return to form of Cano and Melky, and we’ll pick up runs.”
That didn’t factor in the subtraction of Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu.
“Is what we have enough?” Cashman asked. “I can’t tell you that.”
They should have enough now.
With Mike Puma