The current offseason has not played out as expected for the New York Yankees, but they were able to secure agreements for next season with eight of their nine arbitration eligible players.
Outside of Chien-Ming Wang in 2008 and Dellin Betances in 2017, the New York Yankees have been able to avoid a salary arbitration hearing with each arbitration eligible player since 2000. Even though the salary arbitration process has the appearance of being a mere formality, the situation can create animosity between a player and a player’s organization.
Although the salary arbitration hearing with Wang did not create a public rift between the two sides, Betances’ hearing may impact free agent negotiations next offseason when he reaches the open market for the first time. Even though a potential rift may have been avoided without the added comments from Yankees’ president Randy Levine following the hearing, it still shows the importance of avoiding a salary arbitration hearing with each and every player.
Despite being the subject of a how the arbitration process can go awry, Betances was able to avoid another arbitration hearing with the Yankees after he agreed on a $7.125 million contract for the upcoming season. This salary figure was reported by Sweeny Murti of WFAN on Twitter and it is a raise over the $5.10 million Betances received last season.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today on Twitter, Greg Bird agreed with the Yankees on a $1.20 million contract for next season and it is a raise over the $582,000 he received last season. Aaron Hicks agreed on a $6.00 million contract for next season (according to Nightengale on Twitter) after earning a modest $2.825 million last season.
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Austin Romine will receive a $1.80 million contract for next season (according to Nightengale on Twitter), which is an increase over the $1.10 million he received last season. Although James Paxton has only played for the Seattle Mariners to this point of his career, he was able to avoid arbitration with his new team. His contract for next season will be worth $8.25 million (according to Nightengale on Twitter) and it is a step up from the $4.90 million he earned last season.
Even though Didi Gregorius will miss a large portion of the season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, he will receive an $11.75 million contract next season (according to Nightengale on Twitter). Gregorius earned $8.25 million last season and could be on the way towards a long-term extension if he performs well following his return from surgery this summer.
The remaining amounts have not been reported at this time, but the New York Yankees confirmed through Twitter that one-year agreements have also been reached with Sonny Gray and Tommy Kahnle.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, an agreement was unable to be secured with Luis Severino. Due to this, both sides will likely enter a salary arbitration hearing next month. Regardless of the outcome, it would probably be best for both the organization and Severino if Levine did not make a public statement following the hearing.