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At 8 pm EST, MLB’s non-tender deadline passed. The deadline represents the last chance all 30 teams have to offer contracts to players with fewer than six years of service time. The two sides don’t have to reach an actual agreement on a contract; the deadline simply forces teams to commit to signing their pre-arb players and offering contracts to their arb-eligible plyers, or to releasing those players.
The Yankees didn’t rock the boat by non-tendering Gary Sánchez. There had been some buzz that the team would consider cutting ties with Sánchez after the 28-year-old’s nightmare 2020 campaign, but ultimately made the reasonable decision to give the inconsistent but immensely talented backstop another shot.
They did, however, non-tender Jonathan Holder. The right-hander, still only 27 despite being around seemingly forever, was a steady presence in the Yankee bullpen at the outset of the shortened season, but faltered towards the end, and ultimately finished with a 4.98 ERA in 21.2 innings. Holder was only first-year arb-eligible, meaning he still had three years prior to free agency, and was likely to make around $1 million in 2021. The Yankees saw fit to make him a free agent right away.
The club tendered contracts to the rest of their roster, from Aaron Judge, to Clint Frazier, to Luis Cessa, all the way down. Cessa and reliever Ben Heller avoided arbitration by agreeing to contracts; the rest will enter negotiations. Holder’s name was the only real surprise on the day.
Around the league, there were a few more interesting non-tenders. The Cubs let go of outfielders Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora, the Twins non-tendered Eddie Rosario, and the White Sox said goodbye to Nomar Mazara and Carlos Rodon. Also hitting the market now are reliever Archie Bradley, free from the Reds, and outfielder David Dahl, who came up with the Rockies. We’ll likely profile any non-tendered players that could help the Yankees on the site some time in the days and weeks to come.