Peter Gammons is reporting that the Boston Red Sox and Kevin Youkilis have agreed on a 4 year $40 million deal with an option for a 5th year. Today was the deadline for players to file for arbitration; General Manager Theo Epstein has never gone to arbitration with any player.
Last year Youk, who will be 30 when the season starts, hit .312 with 29 homeruns and 115 RBI's under a deal that paid him $3 million.
This deal seems like Youk took a home town discount, considering that he put up similiar numbers to Mark Teixeira across the board and Teixeira is making $23 million/year for the next 8 years.
Do you think Youk took a discount to play in Boston? Let us know your thoughts in our comments section.
5 comments:
In general, I know the Sox don't like to sign players beyond 4 years...so that isn't a surprise...however I think the overall amount is lower than expected. Perhaps it's a hometown discount but it also got done the day before he was arbitration eligible.
He may have been able to get a lot more money next year by going into free agency...but i'm not complaining, I love Youk and i'm glad he'll be here for four more years at a relative discount. This is Youk's "big contract", at 34/35 for his next contract; he won't see the same kind of money. Good for him for getting it done and being happy in Boston.
Additional details say there is a 5th year club option for 13 million. But is Teixeira twice as good Youk? I definitely don't think so.
I love Brett Sdaberhagen, sorry just had to get that out.
Fair point about Saberhagen...
I think this a good deal for Youk, it wasn't a mortal lock he was going to get 100 million on the open market when he becomes a free agent.
Its a great deal for the Sox. Sox in '09 pitching and defense.
didn't take long for you to add the Heidi Watney picture as your icon Murphy....good work.
Pitching and defense....didn't that work well 2004 and 2007? We'll see.
Post a Comment