Yankees bring back Chris Young on one-year deal

Chris Young wasn't the bust in the Bronx that he was in Queens, giving the Yankees reason to want him back in 2015.

They officially made that happen Sunday, announcing that he has signed a one-year deal.

Young, 31, who signed a one-year, $7.25-million deal last offseason with the Mets but was released in August, signed for $2.5 million for 2015. He is expected to provide depth for the starting outfield of Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.

Young is likely to get the majority of his playing time in rightfield, where Beltran resides. Beltran, who will turn 38 in April, battled a bone spur in his right elbow for most of 2014 and had surgery in October.

Young, an All-Star with Arizona in 2010, hit .205 with a .283 on-base percentage, eight homers and 28 RBIs in 88 games for the Mets before he was designated for assignment Aug. 9 and released Aug. 15. The Yankees signed him to a minor-league deal Aug. 27 and brought him up Sept. 2. He provided a spark, hitting .282 with a .354 OBP, three homers and 10 RBIs in 23 games.

The Yankees' primary reserve outfielder last season was Ichiro Suzuki, but they have shown no interest in bringing him back.

In an MLB Network interview that is set to air Monday night, Ichiro, 41, said, "I have every intention of playing in the major leagues next year. Where will that be? I cannot tell you because baseball is not an individual sport, and so it's not just up to my feeling that I want to play. Somebody has to feel that they want to give me the opportunity to play."