SALON

Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 1:15 AM UTC

AP source: Youkilis, Yankees reach 1-year deal

By

Topics: From the Wires,

AP source: Youkilis, Yankees reach 1-year dealFILE - In this July 28, 2012, file photo, Chicago White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis (20) makes a play on the ball during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas. A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press Tuesday, Dec. 11, that free agent Youkilis and the New York Yankees have reached agreement on a $12 million, one-year deal. (AP Photo/Matt Strasen, File)(Credit: AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Youkilis and the Yankees reached a deal Tuesday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, returning the hard-nosed All-Star to the AL East and filling New York’s immediate need for a third baseman.

The one-year contract for $12 million is pending a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement.

Youkilis is expected to play third base while Alex Rodriguez recovers from hip surgery. Rodriguez plans to have the surgery in mid-January and could be sidelined until the All-Star break or beyond.

Eric Chavez, A-Rod’s backup for most of last season, joined Arizona last week. The Yankees considered several options as a stopgap at third, including Jeff Keppinger and Mark Reynolds, but both accepted deals with other teams.

The Yankees made the offer to Youkilis last week at the baseball winter meetings. The agreement was first reported by Fox Sports.

Youkilis turns 34 in March. He played third base and first base last season for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.

Youkilis was traded to the White Sox last June as Boston’s new management reshaped the Red Sox roster. He combined to hit a career-low .235 with 19 home runs and 60 RBIs.

An All-Star in 2008, 2009 and 2011, Youkilis won a Gold Glove at first base in 2007. He is a .283 hitter with 148 home runs in nine seasons, and was on Boston teams that won the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

For years, Youkilis was one of the more prominent faces in the fierce Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, and his intensity made him among the more popular players at Fenway Park. He and Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain had a feud that exemplified the ill will between the clubs — the inside fastballs that caused the trouble tapered off in recent seasons and now they’re teammates.

With the Yankees, Youkilis could also play first base to give Mark Teixeira a break and could be the designated hitter.

There is still uncertainty about when Rodriguez will return. He is a 14-time All-Star and baseball’s priciest player, with his current overall contract worth $275 million.

Rodriguez hit .272 with 18 home runs and 57 RBIs last season, and is fifth on the career homers list with 647. He slumped to .120 with zero RBIs in the playoffs, and was benched and replaced by a pinch hitter in key situations.

More By Ben Walker.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations