So I spend my day having lunch with my parents, and I come home to this news. It’s fairly shocking, but as my dad said, “I expected that.” Mark Teixeira and the New York Yankees just made too much sense. He fills an obvious need right away, and even if the deal includes the ever-popular opt-out, the Yanks will get a few years of Teixeira’s peak.
As details about the signing emerge, Dan Granziano runs them down. The deal — eight years and $180 million — will contain a no-trade clause, and we’ve just learned via Danny Knobler that it will not contain an opt-out clause.
What this Teixeira signing indicates though is that a new generation of Steinbrenners is willing to spend what it takes to win just like George. They’ve also managed to do so without trading any of their prized young arms. Here’s what they have, as per Graziano:
Alex Rodriguez (2008-17): 10 years, $275 million
Derek Jeter (2001-10): 10 years, $189 million
Mark Teixeira (2009-2016): 8 years, $180 million
CC Sabathia (2009-2015): 7 years, $161 million
He writes further:
Those are also four of the five largest contracts in baseball history — the fifth being the 10-year, $252 million deal Rodriguez signed with the Rangers prior to 2001. Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees after the 2003 season and opted out of that deal to sign a larger one after the 2007 season.
Also, assuming the deal goes through, the Yankees will have signed six major free agents since the end of the 2007 season (when George Steinbrenner’s sons took control of the team) for a total of just under $800 million:
Alex Rodriguez: 10 years, $275 million
Mark Teixeira: 8 years, $180 million
CC Sabathia: 7 years, $161 million
A.J. Burnett: 5 years, $82.5 million
Jorge Posada: 4 years, $52.4 million
Mariano Rivera: 3 years, $45 million
The Yankees are playing with house money. They’ve bought the pieces they need to supplement the prospects they’re developing. We’ll find out starting in April how it all works. Right now, the Yanks are rich, and they’re not afraid to spend, spend, spend.
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