Yankees Add Four Years to Gardner's Deal
TAMPA, Fla. - From the moment the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury on Dec. 7, the speculation began that they would trade Brett Gardner. Who, after all, would need two speedy, leadoff center fielders?
But the Yankees insisted they wanted to keep Gardner to play left field alongside Ellsbury in center. And they proved it Sunday when they agreed to sign him to a four-year, $52 million contract extension that begins in 2015 with a club option for 2019. Gardner had already signed a one-year, $5.6 million for 2014.
Gardner could have waited and become a free agent after this season, but he said there was nowhere else he wanted to play.
'It takes a lot of pressure off,' he said. 'The idea of free agency kind of intrigued me but it also kind of scared me. I love it here and I love everyone in the organization.'
General Manager Brian Cashman said he first brought up the idea of an extension with Gardner's agent, Joe Bick, shortly after he signed Ellsbury to his seven-year, $153 million contract in December, and he said the four-year, $48 million deal that Cleveland Indians center fielder Michael Bourn got last year was a guideline.
'I love Brett Gardner,' Cashman said. 'I think he's a big piece of our puzzle.'
Cashman said that with acres of space in left and center field at Yankee Stadium he is pleased to have, in essence, two center fielders patrolling the outfield, and essentially two leadoff hitters, as well.
The 30-year-old Gardner, who has a career .352 on-base percentage, was on base 34 percent of the time last season and hit 10 triples, the most in the American League. He also had eight home runs and scored 81 runs, tied with Robinson Cano for most on the Yankees.
'At times he was one of our best players last year,' Cashman said. 'He's one of the better leadoff center fielders the game can provide.'
Cashman was also pleased to note that Gardner is a homegrown Yankee, the last everyday position player the team has developed since Cano. Gardner was drafted in the third round of the 2005 amateur draft and made his debut with the Yankees in 2008. He has long been a favorite of Cashman's, who recalled how former minor league hitting coach Gary Denbo predicted that Gardner would become the Yankees center fielder.
'His character and makeup are very special,' Cashman said. 'He's made himself into a very special player.'
Gardner's deal does not provide a no-trade clause, but he gets a $1 million bonus of he is traded.
'I feel like if I stay on the field and I stay healthy and treat people the way they are supposed to be treated,' he said, 'and go about my business the right way and do things on the field to help the team win, I'm not concerned about it.'
As excited as Cashman was about extending Gardner's contract, he played down the signing of the relief pitcher Andrew Bailey to a minor league deal. Bailey, the 2009 American League Rookie of the Year, missed the second half of last season after shoulder surgery and is not expected back until the second half of 2014, although Cashman said even that timetable was uncertain.
'Look for August or September for him to help the major league club, if at all,' Cashman said.
OFF TO KALAMAZOO? Derek Jeter, who missed most of last season with various leg injuries, ran the bases along with the rest of the position players and said he was fine afterward. When asked if he planned to join the team for its spring training trip to Panama in mid-March, an event dear to the heart of Mariano Rivera, he deferred.
'Next year we're going to Kalamazoo,' he said of his hometown in Michigan.
FIRST, THEY FACE A HEISMAN WINNER The Yankees play their first spring training game Tuesday against Florida State University and Jameis Winston, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and also a member of the baseball team, is expected to play. Vidal Nuno will start for the Yankees. Ivan Nova will start Wednesday's Grapefruit League opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. David Phelps and Adam Warren will follow in the next two games.
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