Yankees Defeat Reliever Betances In Arbitration Case
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) — The New York Yankees beat Dellin Betances in the year's final salary arbitration case, and the relief pitcher will be paid $3 million rather than his $5 million request.
The decision gave teams an 8-7 edge in decisions this year, the most hearings since clubs won 10 of 16 decisions in 1994. Players won three of four cases last year. Teams lead 310-231 since salary arbitration began in 1974.
Arbitrators Steven Wolf, Dan Brent and Sylvia Skratek issued their decision Saturday, a day after hearing arguments.
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New York renewed Betances at the major league minimum $507,500 last year. A setup man for the first four months, he took over as closer after the trades of Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs and Andrew Miller to Cleveland.
A right-hander who turns 28 in March, Betances figures to be primarily a setup man again following Chapman's decision to return to the Yankees. New York gave Chapman an $86 million, five-year contract — a record for a relief pitcher. Betances struck out 126, leading big league relievers for the third straight year, and went 3-6 with a 3.08 ERA and 12 saves in 17 chances.
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Since defeating Mariano Rivera in 2000, the Yankees had only one arbitration hearing. In 2008, pitcher Chien-Ming Wang was awarded a raise from $489,500 to the team's $4 million offer instead of his $4.6 million request.
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