Dreaming of St. Louis Cardinals' slugger Albert Pujols in pinstripes, New York Yankees fans? Well, Mark Teixeira is having none of it.
"I'm not going anywhere," Teixeira said today. "I've got that no trade for a reason. I'm going to be buried in pinstripes."
Teixeira, who says he's fully healed from injuries that wrecked the end of his season, signed an eight-year, $180 million deal that runs through 2016.
"I'd be disappointed if the fans of New York weren't looking to make our team get better," Teixeira said. "But they've just got to know that I'm not leaving."
Good. Teixeira is a tremendous player and he is signed through 2016. No one from the Yankees has hinted that the Yankees would try and trade for Pujols, who is at a contract impasse with the Cardinals. If they were, the cost would begin with Teixeira. So, that isn't happening.
Personally, I don't want to see the Yankees get involved with Pujols. Whether that would be via trade or free agency if Pujols eventually decides to test the market doesn't matter.
The Yankees have a great first baseman already. They have a great third baseman who will need, increasingly, to DH over the next few seasons. They don't need Pujols, and they certainly don't need to be tied to another player with a huge contract that will carry him well beyond his prime seasons.
If the Yankees are to spend big money the next couple of seasons they should spend it trying to find young, frontline starting pitching.