Yankees agree to terms with all arbitration eligible players except Judge
On Tuesday evening, the New York Yankees agreed to terms with all but one of their arbitration eligible players, the one being star right-fielder Aaron Judge who is seeking a long-term extension with the club. The Yankees have not gone to an arbitration hearing with any of their players since the 2017 debacle with Dellin Betances. Aaron Judge has requested a salary of $21 million for the 2022 season and the Yankees have countered with an offer of $17 million. If the two sides cannot settle in the middle or reach that extension, they’ll head for a hearing, which due to the delays brought on by the lockout, will likely occur in-season.
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| Photo Credit: Jonather Dyer/USA TODAY Sports |
As a refresher on the arbitration
process, it is a system designed to allow players still under team control
(less than six years of MLB service time) to have more of a say in their
salaries over and above the league minimums they would receive in their first
two or three full season. Players who
qualify for “Super
Two” status are given arbitration eligibility after the second season,
while all others after their third. The MLBPA sought to change the percentage
of players who qualified for Super Two status, but dropped that request in
early March just before the new CBA was agreed upon.
Tuesday afternoon at 1:00pm EST
was the deadline for players and teams to exchange figures, but most of the
settlements were not revealed until much later in the evening since many teams
had players in action right around the deadline. This year, the Yankees had 13 arbitration
eligible players with Lucas Luetge and Tim LoCastro having agreed to deals
weeks ahead of the deadline.
|
Player |
Position |
MLB Service Time^ |
Arbitration Year |
2022 Salary Agreement |
|
Aaron Judge |
OF |
5.051 |
3rd |
TBD |
|
Joey Gallo |
OF |
5.103 |
3rd |
$10,275,000 |
|
Gleyber Torres* |
2B |
3.162 |
2nd |
$6,250,000 |
|
Jameson Taillon |
SP |
5.110 |
3rd |
$5,800,000 |
|
Chad Green |
RP |
5.050 |
3rd |
$4,000,000 |
|
Isiah Kiner-Falefa |
SS |
4.000 |
2nd |
$4,700,000 |
|
Jordan Montgomery* |
SP |
4.153 |
3rd |
$6,000,000 |
|
Wandy Peralta* |
RP |
4.168 |
3rd |
$2,150,000 |
|
Jonathan Loaisiga |
RP |
3.022 |
1st |
$1,650,000 |
|
Miguel Andujar |
INF |
3.117 |
1st |
$1,300,000 |
|
Kyle Higashioka |
C |
3.005 |
1st |
$935,000 |
|
Clay Holmes |
RP |
3.031 |
1st |
$1,100,000 |
|
Domingo German |
RP |
3.017 |
1st |
$1,750,000 |
^ MLB Service Time figures per Baseball Reference
* Denotes Super Two Players
with a 4th year of arbitration eligibility
Aaron Judge (if not extended), Joey Gallo, Jameson Taillon and
Chad Green are all set to be free-agents at season’s end while both Jordan
Montgomery and Wandy Peralta will be 4th-time arbitration eligible in
2023. With one of the largest
arbitration classes in the league, the Yankees were clearly worried about the
raises due to the players above and one can only wonder how much that
restricted them in free agency, where their lone addition of significance was
bringing back first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
"I've been vocal about how I feel and where I want to play and what uniform I want to wear the rest of my career. But if it happens, it happens" - Aaron Judge on a potential contract extension with the Yankees pic.twitter.com/M8dzcEEinx
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 15, 2022
The Yankees will now turn their attention to the Judge situation and hopefully avoid another messy arbitration hearing that might rub Judge the wrong way and unintentionally push him out the door at the end of the year. That is a catastrophic scenario the team must try to avoid at all costs – either by giving Judge the new deal he seeks, or at the very least upping their offer closer to $20 million for this season and then going all out to retain him next winter. The last time the team was staring down the barrel of a hearing, they were able to agree with both Aaron Hicks (seven years, $70 million) and Luis Severino (four years, $40 million) prior to the 2019 season, so at the least there’s some precedent to do the same with Judge.
Article by: Andrew Natalizio
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