Stars and pinstripes

Sheffield, Yankees finally agree on three-year, $39 million contract

Have bat, will travel: Gary Sheffield is a lifetime .299 hitter with 379 homers in 16 seasons with Milwaukee, San Diego, Florida, Los Angeles and Atlanta. AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gary Sheffield already is bracing for it.

The first time he goes into a slump, he knows, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner will criticize him in the newspapers and on the airwaves.

"That's part of it. He already told me that's going to happen," Sheffield said Wednesday after finalizing his $39 million, three-year contract with the Yankees.

"I don't think he can say anything bad to me that I haven't said to myself," Sheffield said.

His deal, which includes $13.5 million in deferred money and a $13 million team option for 2007, took weeks to complete after the outfielder and Steinbrenner agreed to the basics. In the end, Sheffield dropped his demand to eliminate the deferred money.

He'll be the Yankees' new right fielder. That position was manned by several players last season for New York.

Sheffield, 35, hit .330 for the Atlanta Braves last season, with 39 homers and a career-high 132 RBIs. The seven-time All-Star broke into the majors in 1988 with the Milwaukee Brewers, and he also has played for the Padres, Marlins and Dodgers.

Yankees manager Joe Torre thinks that Boston's acquisitions of starter Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke have made the AL East a tossup. The Yankees have won the division for six straight seasons.

"They certainly have caught up, at the least, because of the pitching moves," Torre said.