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The New York Yankees needed a third baseman with Alex Rodriguez being on the shelf for the first half of the 2013 season after hip surgery and they found a perfect match in Kevin Youkilis with a one-year contract worth $12 million on Tuesday. After everything is added up, the Yankees will be paying a total of $40 million to their third basemen in 2013.

That sounds like a huge number and a huge investment for two players but that’s the Yankees. They were in big trouble and needed to make a move so they did and got a player who is very solid on both corner infield positions while A-Rod will likely take over as the full-time designated hitter if and when he returns next season. I’m very interested to see if this move works out for the Yankees. We all know that Rodriguez is going to want to play the field when he gets back so the question becomes: How do all these pieces come together by the second half of the year?

It was a necessary move to get a good player in Youkilis, who will likely hit 15-20 home runs for New York while hitting seventh in the Yankees’ lineup. It also allows the team to stay around their $189 million payroll goal for 2014. This isn’t the Yankees that most people are used to being frugal with their money but for 2013, the Yankees are once again looking like a team that will be hard to beat in the American League East and should be a World Series contender.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports or like his Facebook page.