The New York Yankees did it once again when they snatched up stud first baseman Mark Teixeira and presented him with a gorgeous 8-year contract for $180 million. This deal includes an approximate signing bonus of $5 million paid out over the first three years. A no opt-out clause and a no-trade provision was also included.
The Yanks initially made an offer to Teixeira a few weeks ago but then later withdrew it. This contract will pay Teixeira an average of $22.5 million per season.
The Yankees are definitely not shy about spending the loot. They have already committed $423.5 million in 1 month with contracts going to CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Teixeira and others.
When asked about the Yankees spending habit, Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said, “Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap.”
On top of all this, the Yankees were slapped with a $26.9 million luxury tax by Commissioner Bud Selig.
4 replies on “Yanks Rope Teixeira”
I don’t have the numbers, but my understanding is that the Yankees’ payroll will actually be less in ’09 than it was this past season. Somehow, this fact seems to be largely overlooked/ignored by the media. Am I missing something?
Nick – I did a little bit of research on this topic. Last year, the Yankees had an approximate payroll of $207,108,489. This year, they are projected to have about 3-million more than that. In my opinion, 3-million more that last years is not that bad considering all of the deals they have made this offseason. A major player in this is the fact that many high payed Yankees are not gone. (Ex. Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, Mike Mussina).
The Yanks declined the 2009 contract options on first baseman Jason Giambi and pitcher Carl Pavano, along with Mussina retiring and other’s getting left off the roster. The Yanks were well below last years salary. I don’t know the exact numbers but I believe it was around 80 million or so. Therefore, even after acquring CC, AJ, and Tex’s yearly salaries for 2009 they were still less than last years overall salary by 10 million or more. Meaning, that Andy Pettite can still resign for $10 million and maybe even more great players. I mean would you be surprised if you heard that NY just got Manny and/or Lowe?
I think that fact that NY isn’t afraid to scoop up ALL the big names is the media’s main attraction. The fact that they are under last years salary and that they just paid $26.9 million in added taxes like it was an item on the dollar menu, ony scares the media and managers (some managers, not Madon apparantly) because they can and might continue to buy up the entire crop of talented free agents. My only question is how long will it take until this excessive buying leads to a salary cap in the MLB?
Correction on that. “….many high payed Yankees are NOW gone.”