Reports: Stephen Drew to Re-Sign With Yankees

Stephen Drew isn’t making the same mistake he made last season in free agency.

The 31-year-old has agreed to a deal to return to the New York Yankees, according to CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman. Heyman reports that the contract is for one year and $5 million, plus incentives that could bring the total up to $6-7 million.

FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal later confirmed Heyman’s report.

Drew has played in 1,021 games over his nine year career, hitting .256 with 97 home runs and 442 RBIs. He’s played the vast majority of his career at shortstop, but it’s expected that he will spend more of next season at second base, where he played down the stretch for the Yankees in 2014.

Drew, whose brother J.D. won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2007, joined the Red Sox as a free agent prior to the 2013 season, where he was played superb defense behind a strong Red Sox pitching staff that included Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, and Jake Peavy. He hit .253 in 124 games with the Red Sox that year, while playing all 16 games in the playoffs as the Red Sox won the 2013 World Series.

A free agent after the season, Drew couldn’t find a job after turning down a one-year, $14.1 million qualifying offer the Sox made him after the World Series, hoping instead to find a long-term deal. He failed to sign with anyone through the first month of 2014, but when the Red Sox struggled out of the gate, they decided to re-sign him in late May, moving Xander Bogaerts to third base when Drew returned to Boston after a conditioning stint in the minors.

The move turned out to be a bust for both players, as Drew’s bat never came around and Bogaerts sank into a deep slump just as he was beginning to get comfortable at shortstop, his natural position. With the Sox’ season all but down the tubes, Drew was dealt to the Yankees at the trade deadline in exchange for Kelly Johnson. In 85 games between Boston and New York last year, Drew hit just .162 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs.