Carlos Beltran may not of been the New York Yankees top choice as Shin-Soo Choo reportedly rejected a seven-year, $140 million contract offer from the Yankee’s according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
According to the report, Choo’s agent Scott Boras countered that he was looking for “Ellsbury money, or $153 million over seven years” Jacob Ellsbury was signed to a seven-year, $148 million contract earlier this month.
The Yankees pulled their offer and signed Carlos Beltran to a three-year, $45 million deal instead.
Sources say that there are “multiple offers” out in the market for Shoo, but it is likely that he will stay away from the market while talks shift to Masahiro Tanaka. Once Tanaka signs, there will surely be a “loser” that will give up “Ellsbury money” to sign Choo.
Choo, 31, hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 154 games this past season for the Reds.