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The New York Yankees have agreed to a one-year, $12 million contract with free-agent third baseman Kevin Youkilis, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. The deal brings the longtime Red Sox infielder to his former team's most hated rival for the 2013 season.
Earlier in the offseason, the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies were among the teams aggressively pursuing Youkilis according to reports, but those teams both opted to acquire other players. Chicago signed Jeff Keppinger to a three-year, $12 million deal while the Phillies traded for Michael Young from the Texas Rangers.
Despite an extremely weak free-agent market for third basemen, Youkilis was still unable to land a multi-year contract after a relatively underwhelming 2012 season. Splitting the year between Chicago and Boston, Youkilis batted just .235/.336/.409 with 19 home runs, the worst single-season numbers of his career.
In New York, Youkilis will be able to alleviate the early-season absence of third baseman Alex Rodriguez while giving the team a quality bat to back-up Mark Teixeira at first base. Once Rodriguez is healthy, Youkilis will presumably split at-bats between third base and the DH spot.