Yankees avoid arbitration and settle with eight players

The Yankees have finalized their outstanding contracts by agreeing to settle with all eight players without going to an arbitration panel. This means that Dellin Betances, Sonny Gray, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Tommy Kahnle, Austin Romine, Adam Warren, and Chasen Shreve are all returning for the 2018 season, barring some kind of trade.

Unlike last year, the Yankees decided not to play hardball with Dellin, giving him the raise he was looking for last season. Despite his relatively down year, the Yankees still decided to give him a $5.1 million contract without batting much of an eye. Sure, it’s not the $5 million raise he was looking for last winter, but it’s still not nothing. This is his second time through the arbitration process, so he has one more to go.

Sonny Gray went through his second year of arbitration as well, practically doubling his salary as he shoots up to $6.5 million. It’s still hard to believe that Gray will only be entering his age-28 season in 2018. Meanwhile, Didi Gregorius has gone through his third year of arbitration to earn $8.25 million. He differs from the others, though, because as a Super Two he still has one more year of arbitration to go.

Aaron Hicks and Austin Romine will make $2.825 million and $1.1 million, respectively, in their second time around. In their first arbitration year, Tommy Kahnle will make $1.3125 and Chase Shreve will make $825K. Adam Warren, on the other hand, has gone through his final year of arbitration and will make $3.325 million in 2018 before hitting free agency next offseason.

Altogether, the Yankees will be paying just under $30 million to retain their arbitration eligible players. Many of these salaries were projected by MLB Trade Rumors and turned out as expected, however, a few turned out very different. MLBTR had Betances making $4.4 million, nearly $1 million off his final salary. They also had Didi making $9 million, but he received $750K less than expected. It all ends up coming out in the wash for the team, though.

According to all projections, $30 million will put the team’s payroll in the $160-170 million range, giving the Yankees somewhere around $30 million to spend on the 2018 roster. This means it wouldn’t be impossible for them to add another infielder or even a starter before spring training. If they go young and cheap enough, they could still get one of each.