The New York Yankees allowed Chris Young to find a deal in trying to reduce their expenses. The Boston Red Sox tried to add protection and agreed to a multi-year contract with the free agent outfielder.
According to ESPN, a source confirmed that the Boston Red Sox have agreed on a two-year, $13 million contract with Young pending a physical exam.
Young, 32 has been with the Arizona Diamond Backs, Oakland Athletics, New York Met, and recently with the New York Yankees. He is a .235 hitter with 169 career home runs for 10 seasons. He had 14 home runs and slugged .453 in 140 games with the Yankees last season where he earned $2.5 million.
The New York Yankees used Young against left-handed pitchers and excelled last year, posting a team-best .972 against lefties. He has a career 1.054 OPS with 11 extra-base hits in 21 games at Fenway Park. He will probably do the same role with the Boston Red Sox.
"We love Chris Young," Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. "He did a great job for us. Once we acquired [Aaron] Hicks, that was it [for trying to re-sign Young]."
In a report from Boston Globe, Dave Dombrowski was said to have been looking for right-handed bat for some weeks. There are possible free agents like Ryan Raburn and Rajai Daivis, but it was clear that they preferred Young over them. Drombowski is still looking for an ace for the pitching rotation. He is eying for southpaw David Prince, a very competitive and one of the top-of-the-line pitchers.
Young is going to be the Boston Red Sox's fourth outfielder together with Mookie Betts, Rusney Castillo, Brock Holt and Jackie Brandley Jr.
Young played all three outfield positions in his career, though he is mainly a center fielder. He played 76 right games in New York Yankees last season with 55 games in left and 15 games in center. He has a fielding percentage of .990 over his career.
