The New York Yankees flexed their financial muscles -- again -- Tuesday, stunning the baseball world by snagging first baseman Mark Teixeira with an eight-year, $180-million deal, outbidding their archrivals, the Boston Red Sox, and the Angels in the process.
The agreement, which is pending a physical, pushed the Yankees' winter spending spree to $423.5 million, after the signing of left-hander CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $161-million deal and right-hander A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $82.5-million deal.
"Man, that's crazy," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. "Those damn Yankees! They don't play around. When they're trying to win, they're trying to win. It's crazy. They just paid $27 million in luxury tax. That's like 27 dollars to them. They don't even care."
The Angels made Teixeira their top priority this winter, offering the slugger an eight-year, $160-million deal on Dec. 9 that owner Arte Moreno declined to sweeten. The Angels pulled their offer off the table Sunday.
According to a source who is familiar with negotiations but not authorized to speak about them on the record, Moreno grew frustrated that his offer essentially sat for two weeks, with no counteroffer from agent Scott Boras.
But another source said Tuesday that Boras had given the Angels one last chance to sign Teixeira on Monday, for eight years and about $176 million. The Angels declined, severing ties with the switch-hitter they acquired last July 29.
"I'm not going to get into a tit-for-tat in the paper," Angels General Manager Tony Reagins said. "But by their actions, we understood that we weren't going to sign the player. I would say that their actions dictated our reaction.
"We feel we made a fair offer, and it was not accepted. There are no sour grapes. We feel very comfortable with the decision that was made."
Teixeira's new deal, which includes a full no-trade clause but no opt-out clause and will pay him an average of $22.5 million a season, will give the Yankees, who are moving into their new $1.3-billion stadium next season, the four largest contracts in the sport -- Alex Rodriguez (10 years, $275 million), Derek Jeter (10 years, $189 million), Teixeira and Sabathia.
"They're scary," Hunter said. "Their rotation is one of the best, if not the best, in the game, and now look at their lineup. They have A-Rod, Jeter, Teixeira, Hideki Matsui, Xavier Nady, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada is coming back [from injury], Nick Swisher . . . golly, that's a nice lineup."
