KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reports of Carlos Beltran returning to the club where he won the 1999 American League Rookie of the Year Award gained steam earlier in the week when he was reportedly meeting with Kansas City officials. It appears his flirtation with the Royals was nothing more than that, MLB.com reports Beltran has been signed by the New York Yankees on Friday night.
The deal is reportedly for three years at a total value of $45 million. Beltran, 36, is coming off of his second-consecutive All-Star season and helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series, where they lost in six games to the Boston Red Sox.
The move made by the Yankees is another splashy one in an offseason where they’ve already added All-Stars Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury. The Yankees did lose superstar Robinson Cano to the Seattle Mariners on Friday, which may have motivated the team to make another move.
The Royals will go into next week’s Winter Meetings already having acquired outfielder Norichika Aoki from the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s unknown if the club has plans to continue searching for an additional outfield power bat or if free agent pitcher Ervin Santana will be retained. The club already signed left-handed pitcher Jason Vargas, which make Santana’s prospects of returning in Royal blue tenuous at best.
