"The Yankees agreed to terms with the free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira on a long-term contract, according to a person in baseball familiar with the matter. The move deals a major blow to the Boston Red Sox, who had made the signing of Teixeira the main objective of the off-season.
Late last week Red Sox executives even traveled to Texas to meet with the 28-year-old Teixeira and his agent, Scott Boras, and were clearly hoping to emerge from that meeting with a deal. Instead it ended with Boston’s owner, John Henry, stating the Red Sox were no longer in the bidding for Teixeira, although that was wildly interpreted as a negotiating ploy to call Boras’s bluff.
As has happened with other standoffs between the Red Sox and Boras, most notably with Johnny Damon, Boras then turned to the Yankees, who until the last 24 hours had not aggressively pursued Teixeira.
Both the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels announced in recent days that they had ended negotiations with Boras.
The Angels pulled their eight-year offer. The Angels reportedly made an offer worth about $160 million during the winter meetings this month.
According to a person in baseball briefed on the discussions between Boras and several teams, the Red Sox remain interested in signing Teixeira to an eight-year contract that would pay him $168 million to $172 million. "
- New York Times