From
www.si.com:
The Yankees are on the verge of signing Mark Teixeira, SI.com has learned, beating out the rival
Red Sox for the free-agent slugger's services.
Terms of the proposed agreement for Teixeira, who hit .308 with 33 home runs and 121 RBIs in 2008, are unclear.
The final four teams in the race to sign Teixeira were the Red Sox, Angels, Nationals and Yankees.
The Red Sox threw a curveball late last week when owner John Henry announced they were no longer "going to be a factor'' following a meeting at Teixeira's Dallas-area house. But after a little while, it became clear that Henry only meant that they intended not to up their bid, not that they were pulling out of the derby entirely.
While Henry's team remained in the running, Angels owner Arte Moreno pulled out for real on Sunday, announcing they had given up the chase. Moreno had submitted a proposal believed to be for $160 million at the Winter Meetings and hadn't moved from that initial offer.
While there were rumors that the Severna Park, Md., product preferred to be on the East Coast, there never was any real evidence of that. He loved his time in Anaheim and continued to live in the Dallas area, so those suggestions may have been overplayed.
The Yankees remained in contact with the Teixeira camp, but after spending $243.5 million on star starting pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, they didn't appear anxious to be the market setter.
