9:29pm: ESPN's Jim Bowden says (on Twitter) the Red Sox would like to shorten the deal to just one year. GM Ben Cherington told Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe that negotiations continue with Napoli (Twitter link).
4:41pm: The three-year, $39MM agreement between Mike Napoli and the Red Sox has yet to be announced, and before the Red Sox sign off on a contract, they want to restructure the deal to include protective language, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. The Red Sox still seem hopeful that they’ll be able to reach an agreement with the catcher/first baseman, according to reports earlier in the week.
The Red Sox want to add protective language to the deal because they found an issue with one of Napoli’s hips, Rosenthal reports. The Red Sox have included protective language in past deals for players such as J.D. Drew. Before Drew signed his deal, Detroit signed Ivan Rodriguez to a free agent contract that allowed the Tigers to buy the catcher out if he spent a certain amount of time on the disabled list for designated reasons.
Another team has expressed interest in Napoli. However, Rosenthal says no team has made a serious effort to sign him.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
