Red Sox Re-Sign Mike Napoli
BOSTON (CBS) - The Red Sox have re-signed Mike Napoli.
Sources tell WBZ-TV's Dan Roche that the two-year deal is worth $32 million.
Napoli initially signed a three-year, $39 million contract with the Red Sox last winter, but a hip issue discovered in his physical nullified the deal. More than a month later, the two sides agreed on a one-year deal with a $5 million base salary and incentives that ultimately earned him $13 million.
The hip issue -- avascular nerosis -- didn't stop Napoli from producing. He played in 139 games, batting .259 with 38 doubles, 23 home runs, 92 RBIs and an .842 OPS, which was second-best on the team behind David Ortiz.
In the postseason, Napoli hit just .217 during the Red Sox' run to a championship, but he came through with some big hits in huge moments. He belted a home run off Justin Verlander, scoring the only run of a 1-0 victory in Game 3 of the ALCS, and he went deep again two days later, this one a 460-foot bomb against Anibal Sanchez, in a 4-3 Red Sox victory.
In the World Series, Napoli hit a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1 to open up a lead that would hold for the rest of the night, and he drove in an insurance run in the sixth and clinching game.
The Red Sox offered Napoli a qualifying offer (one year, $14 million) after the season, which he turned down. Napoli spoke glowingly about the Red Sox in the days that followed the World Series win, saying he wanted to remain in Boston.
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